South Dakota Bumble Bees's Boletim

Please don't be too worried about or too quick to clean up rock piles or brush piles in your yard. They could be hiding underground bumble bee nests. Yesterday I saw a bumble bee flying around and then it disappeared into some old weed/stick stems by my compost pile. It didn't come back out so I'm hoping it has a nest there. I'll be leaving the debris and watching to see what happens.

Later in the day, I did get photos of a Hunt's bumble bee on the dandelions in my yard (somewhat close to the suspected nest).
Charlie

Hello to all 5 followers!

I am learning a bunch about BB ID. For instance, Brown-belted BBs have "short, uniform hair on their heads and abdomens, while two-spotted have long and uneven hair. That, and brown-belted can have defined spots on their abdomen, but often they are clearly separated, while two-spotted bb have the "W" pattern on their abdomen without clean separation of the "spots". Sorry if I ramble here, but just trying to improve my ID skills.

D.

I use the "Live" feature for photos. This gives you a small video so you can select the best pose and focus. I will get fairly close to the bee and take 3-4 shots, then try to get closer. I end up deleting most of my photos, but I usually get a one or two photos with nice detail, and I have gotten a couple great photos that would not have been nearly as good with just one frame.

So far, I have three species documented, and seen at least a 4rth. Keep looking and snapping photos!

Dan