July 31, 2024
When walking in Golden, CO on July 16, I noticed an interesting bumblebee in the Russia Sage.
The bumblebee had an orange belt on her abdomen.
A search determined she was a Hunt’s bumblebee.
The Hunt’s bumblebee is an important pollinator and is used commercially to pollinate tomatoes in greenhouses in Western North America.
Tomatoes pollinated by bumblebees set more seeds, which increase the yield of the tomatoes by weight. The bumblebee pollinated tomatoes had a larger diameter. The bumblebee pollinated tomatoes also ripen almost 3 days earlier than tomatoes not pollinated by bumblebees.
Blackberry Homestead 
I’ve never seen a bumblebee like that one. Quite the find!
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I hadn’t seen one like this before. Occurring to Wikipedia, “This bee lives in desert scrub, prairies, and meadows. In the southern part of its range in Mexico it lives in pine ecosystems and it can be found at high elevations, such as the tops of tall volcanoes. The bee is active in summer and fall, and in southern areas it flies throughout much of the year. It nests underground.[1]”
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Pretty soon my part of the world will be desert. Maybe I’ll see one then!
(Volcanoes, eh? These are some adventurous bees!)
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It’s a beauty! I love the ones that come around for the flowers as they’re a joy to watch.
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So do I. When I had a house, I had planted Russian sage and the bees loved it. I would watch them for a bit most days. I didn’t ever see a Hunt’s Bumblebee though.
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That is one dressed up bumblebee!!
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