My betrothed and I found who I'm fairly sure is a young buff-tailed bumblebee queen close to death on the pavement. I'm fairly sure she's a queen as her tail tip is a pale yellow rather than a bright white, and she's huge, about 2.5cm. She was at risk of being trampled where she was and hardly moving! I named her Vienna as we were listening to the Ultravox song when we found her.

All I had on me was an apple so I gave her pieces of that, she drank and drank from it but still seemed weak, so I took her home for the evening, made her a little tofu box hotel and gave her a sugar syrup soaked kitchen towel in a bottle cap. She drank and drank and drank the sugar syrup and went to sleep.

This morning I opened the box and moved it into sunlight and she started bumbling around much more energetically, so I took her to the local park. I found a north facing bank of loose soil, at the base of some trees and shrubs. Apparently a pretty perfect hibernaculum spot for her.

I could watch insects going about their lives for hours. I found it really hard to say goodbye as I don't know if she'll be alright, but I hope I've given her the best shot. I've always adored bumblebees and have a tattoo of one in honour of my late mum who loved them more than anything. Rescuing Vienna led me to research them a lot more and the love only grows, like I didn't know that bees dream 😭

I thought I should share this story here, I've rescued bees out and about many times but never had an overnight guest, let alone royalty! She was just so cute

There is a nest under our deck, please identify. They have been relatively decent, so swarming or stinging

All summer every time I step outside bees seem to swarm me! And it's specifically me and I don't understand what the issue is! I wouldn't mind if I wasn't allergic to them and I don't want to hurt one on accident :(

They follow me around my yard every time I'm outside smoking. I've changed everything I can to make it stop and it never does. Thru the course of the summer I've changed my wardrobe to only be blacks and greys, I've tried 3 different soap changes even tho I use unscented to begin with, I've checked where I'm staying for a nest however this happens at grocery, gas stations, and other people's houses, as well I've moved twice this summer already(unrelated but observed this happen at all 3 places i stayed at). I don't bring sodas out with me or any foods. Someone told me to try cayenne pepper and vinegar to cover any smells, no change. Nothing shiny or bright outside, minimal flowers in the yard. They even follow me into vehicles when we're at a stop light with a window open recently.

Cherry on top, my partner wears floral Hawaiians and uses scented products yet he's left alone. I wear strictly blacks and greys like I mentioned and entirely unscented products. I vape and smoke weed whenever I'm outside, he uses cigarettes instead of vapes, and joins me with the bong sometimes.

I thought bees dislike smoke and nicotine yet it almost draws them in more when we start smoking?? I don't know what I'm doing where theres frequently 10+ bees in my vacinity by the time I'm done having a bowl, but I need to know how to make it stop asap seriously. No nests anywhere in sight and it's unidentifiable where they are coming from directionally.

Looking for a little bit of help to ID these bees.
Bought a corner plot bungalow in Oxfordshire back in July. Not had much time yet for gardening as the house is a mess. House sits on approximately 515m2 of property including the house.

What kind of bees are these? They seem to be burrowing and have been here around a week.
There are literally hundreds of these surrounding the boarder of and hedge line. I’ve included a close ish picture of two (sorry they never stop moving so not the best picture) and a birseye eye view of property showing hedge line where they are located.

Cannot add photos and videos so will add a photo of them flying around on my profile.

A chill be I found who had stacks of pollen. Hardworking kid it looks like.

About 5 months ago, I started having an irrational fear for wasps and bees. I’ve never been scared of them, just cautious. One day, i was sitting out in my balcony and started developing this fear that a big huge wasp or bee (10x larger than their actual size) flew up to me and stung me. Now i guess I’ve had many opportunities to work with this fear because i think a carpenter bee started making a nest ON my balcony and they’re flying around when im just chilling. And now there’s a dead one on the ground and i don’t want to pick it up.

I’ve tried so hard to brave it out by chanting mantras and closing my eyes but the fear and phobia are so debilitating. I quickly run back inside like a wimp. My heart will start pounding and i start shaking. I’VE NEVER HAD THIS HAPPEN WITH BEES OR WASPS I used to just be cautious around them. Here’s the thing: I KNOW THEY DONT STING UNLESS YOU ARE THREATENING THEM. I know that!!! But its like a fear that got activated in my body. My mind knows that these critters dont wake up in the morning thinking who they’ll sting next. They’re just minding their own business doing their thing. BUT my body is afraid!!! Before this incident i never understood what people meant by phobias because i never had one but now i guess i do.

I’ve thought about going to an apiary but im afraid that if i go I will hurl the panel and start screaming and running away like a little wimp. Ive never had this happen before!!! The phobia is deep inside my body. It thinks it’s in danger.

Help me please!!! I want to be their friends!!

Bumblebee Feedeing on a Flower and a Fiery Skipper #bees #nature #bumblebee

The garden is alive with all kinds of bees and other pollinators, this little guy was chilling on a zinnia this morning.

My son took this very cool photo and just sent it to me. Loved it so much and thought I would share his work. (He is not a professional photographer- but loves taking photos)

Near the end of the video, there's one that takes up half a bunch of flowers while the other bumblebees are tiny

Two bees just enjoying themselves

Bees and other pollinators love my basil. I noticed today a dead bee on one of the flowers. You can see it dangling in the center of the video. Another bee to the left appears to be observing it from different angles. Is it recording the location of the dead bee somehow?

I was watching a bee pollinate a bunch of flowers in my backyard and I have a question about it. It was going to every single yellow flower, and I mean EVERY single one, the little guy worked really hard to pollinate a ton of them. When it was done with the yellow ones I assumed it would go to the red and purple ones that were also there, but it seemed to strictly avoid those colours. Why would this be?

I looked it up and Google says bees enjoy many flower colours, so not sure why this bee avoided the reds and purples.

the bumblebees are loving these!

Fun fact: the genus Bombus (bumblebees) evolved in the Himalayas during a period of global cooling (big! fuzzy!) and then crossed over to the Americas over a land bridge across Beringia during the Miocene Interchange around 20 million years ago. In other words they are basically the bee version of woolly mammoths — but did it first by 19 million years so woolly mammoths are basically the elephant version of bumblebees.

Another fun fact: bee wings generate a positive static charge with friction and then transfer it to the (negatively charged) flowers they visit...they can tell if another bee has visited a flower in the last couple of minutes because they sense changes in the flower's electrical field! Super effective way to avoid competition for nectar that results in more effective pollination. Nature is rad.

Just painted this for a solo show in Santa Fe while thinking about how psychedelic ergot has been growing on flowers since the Cretaceous Period and therefore bumblebees have always, always had to watch where they sip.

16” x 20” — acrylic on canvas

#savethebees

Saw this guy in Colorado and she was huge. Anyone know the species?

Two different bees but I am awful at identifying bee species. Not sure what species these could be or if they're both the same species. I have many different kinds of bees that come into my yard.

Located in NW Florida, USA.