The Bees Need
It’s a grey winter day, cold and snowy; but instead of thinking about snow fleas, my thoughts are of bumble bees. Why am I dreaming of sunshine, fields of flowers, and fuzzy, buzzy bees? The answer may not be what you’d expect. For the first time ever, in 2017, a bumble bee—the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, to be exact—will be listed as a Federally Endangered Species. Considered one of the most common and widespread bumble bee species in the eastern U.S. and upper Midwest, Rusty Patched now show population declines of 95% and occur only in isolated pockets.
The news is flabbergasting, to say the least. For many generations of Americans, this ever-present buzzing bee was just a natural part of the landscape. After all, bumble bees used to be synonymous with magical childhood summers spent playing outside in fields and forests. I remember these bees as constant, common, companions; creatures that I took for granted—never once considering their uniqueness, or realizing their valuable role, let alone imagining a world without them!
Unfortunately, Rusty Patched Bumble Bees are not alone. In North America, one-third of all bumble bee species are declining, with similar losses reported in Europe, South America, and Asia. This trend holds true in Vermont as well. Within the past decade, five of Vermont’s fifteen species have declined or disappeared, with the Rusty Patched, Ashton Cuckoo, and Yellow-Banded Bumble Bees being listed as state threatened and endangered species in 2015.
What do bumble bees have that other bees don’t? This may come as a surprise, but they are exceptional irreplaceable pollinators. Being bulky-bodied, a bumble bee can generate heat, allowing it to fly earlier and later in the day, and in colder weather. By holding a flower in its jaws and vibrating its muscles, it can “buzz pollinate” to forcibly expel pollen. If you see a bumbling bee, and hear prolonged droning (somewhat akin to a dentists’ drill), consider yourself a buzz pollination bystander! Remarkably, even plants that self-pollinate produce bigger and better fruits when bumble bees are involved.
For such a tiny creature, there’s more to a bumble bee than meets the eye. Did you know it’s the only truly social, native, North American bee? Or that it gets all of its food from flowers? That cold bumble bees shiver to warm up their flight muscles? That their wings beat 130 times or more per second? How about the fact that they prefer purple, blue, or yellow flowers? That they have to learn how to get nectar from variously shaped flowers and tend to focus on one or two species at a time? Did you know that they scent-mark flowers visited, so they and other bees can avoid them? While non-native honey bees buzz around large (>10,000 individuals) perennial hives, our humble, bumble constructs an annual colony with far fewer (50-500) individuals. With lots to do and only one year to do it, bumble bees give new meaning to the phrase, “Busy as a bee!”
It all begins in April, when queens emerge from the ground, find suitable nest sites, collect food, and lay eggs that were fertilized in fall. As the only adult, the queen does not live like royalty! For the next 4-5 weeks, her highness works tirelessly—making countless flights back and forth to flowers, collecting pollen for developing larvae, and laying eggs—all to get the colony started. Since eggs and larvae need a constant temperature of 85-90 degrees F, the queen broods them and uses her wings to fan air in or out. With only 50% of eggs maturing into adults, it’s a good thing the queens had all winter to rest! Once the larvae mature, the queen can breathe a sigh of relief. With an all-female staff to collect food, defend the colony, and care for the young, the queen can focus on laying eggs and resting—a role more worthy of her royal status!
Female workers aren’t so lucky. With a lifespan of only one or two months, these bees-turned-body-builders can forage 3 or more miles from the nest, while carrying half of their weight, in pollen or nectar. Busily buzzing about, these black-and-yellow balls of energy do whatever it takes to make the colony grow and thrive. By late July, the colony is nearing its completion. With future generations in mind, the queen starts producing males, that will disperse and mate with queens from other colonies. She also produces females that will become next years’ queens. Come September, all bees in the colony die, except the newly fertilized queens. Life goes on for them—hibernating in winter, repeating the cycle in spring, and doing all they can to ensure the survival of their species, during their year of life.
Since the 1990s, bumble bee populations have experienced drastic declines. Habitat loss and degradation have contributed to losses, but that’s not the entire story. The propagation of American bumble bees for greenhouse pollination brought foreign parasites that infected wild, local populations. If that wasn’t enough, the widespread use of highly toxic neonicotinoid insecticides on agricultural crops, lawns, gardens, orchards, and forests, meant the indiscriminate killing of insects, including bumble bees. Radio tag research has shown that long-term pesticide exposure prevents bumble bees from learning essential skills, like collecting pollen and knowing which flowers to visit. Listing the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee as an Endangered Species is only the first step in saving it.
This spring, take some time to look and listen for bumble bees. If we could understand their buzzing, we may hear a plea, “To be a free bee, I need: habitats of grasslands, fields, and forests for native flowers, shrubs, and trees; unkempt natural areas—not mowed or raked—with leaf litter, logs, and necessities for nesting and hibernating; pesticide-free places to forage; flowering plants from April to September, to sustain all life stages in the colony. But most importantly, I need you—allies of citizens and scientists—to collect data, inform the public, and help shape policies for my protection.”
Threatened and Endangered means there’s still time…it’s up to us.
Judy Sefchick
Wildlife Biologist, Missisquoi NWR
View more bumble bee photos taken in Jericho, including Tri-colored, Yellow-banded, and Perplexing Bumble Bees @ https://jerichovermont.blogspot.com/2021/04/observe-and-know-life-in-your-yard.html
The more we know about the life around us, the more we will appreciate the services they provide, and the almost incomprehensible beauty of sight and behavior that life exhibits. ~ Bernie
Further Reading:
- Same topic on YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7wt2QvuVww
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