A few weeks ago, I spent an afternoon watching and photographing bumble bees at Camassia Preserve in Portland. The bees were buzzing around, collecting nectar and pollen from Indian Camas flowers (Camassia quamash), among others.
The most conspicuous species, if not the most common, was the Yellow-faced Bumble Bee (Bombus vosneskensii). This is a chunky insect, 0.4-0.8 inches long (1-2 cm). It is distinguished by the yellow hairs on its head and the single yellow/white strip across its abdomen.
The first three photos here are of the Yellow-faced Bumble Bee. Notice the bright yellow pollen baskets on the bee in the photo above. I also photographed this species on Columbia Desert Parsley.
The bumble bees in the two photos below are smaller species. Originally, I decided that these were Black-tailed Bumble Bees (Bombus melanopygus), but now I’m not so sure. There are several bumble bee species that look similar and may not be easily identified in the field.
The colors of the bees in these photographs appear to be different, so they may represent two different species.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Have enjoyed seeing all the bees on our flowers. Like to hear them buzzing. Enjoyed your post.
Great post and one on a subject dear to my hear.
I’m a volunteer at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge working on a pollinator display. I’m drying some of the good bee flowers that grow here, and gluing bees and butterflies to them..
Do you have a good reference for identifying the bees of Oregon or the bees of the Great Basin? If so, please advise.
And do you know about the new book, Attracting Native Pollinators, published by the Xerces Society. You can also download it free. If you send the PDF file to Amazon, they will translate it to the Kindle format. Then it reads just like a Kindle book.
It does help figure out the bees to the family level and gives lots of information that will help people make attractive bee and butterfly habitats
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Since we need pollinators to help 75% or our flowering plants set seed, including one-third of our food, it is important to get out the message that bees are in serious trouble, including our native bees and we need to provide more habitat for them.
Hi, Marilyn. I don’t have a good bee reference that comes to mind. I have heard of the Xerces Society’s publications, though. They do great work. Thanks for bringing this information to my readers and thanks for the comment!
Gorgeous photos. We have all kinds of wild bees in the lower Columbia uplands. An historic barn, remnant forest, fruit trees and blackberry patch of great sized has allowed them to thrive. I saw one the other day no bigger than a miniature wildflower. It was hairy and gray, gnat sized.