Bumble bees fly at a rate of three metres per second. Their colonies are seasonal and die out when winter comes, with only the queens surviving to spring.īumble bees, like most bees, are able to fly by creating a vortex of air with the down stroke of their wings. They are not big honey producers, but create just enough honey to allow the colony to survive through times of food shortage. They can visit 10 to 18 flowers in a minute. Bumble bee hives are usually found underground in abandoned rodent burrows and are lined with the bees’ secreted wax.īumble bees are active in all kinds of weather and are often the first bee out in early spring and last in the fall. However, they will defend the colony if threatened. Their hives are relatively small compared with honey bee hives - on average between 150 and 200 bees - and bumble bees are not known to swarm. About 45 species of bumble bees are social bees native to Canada. Social bees live in hives and have a social structure. Because solitary bees are not defending a hive, they tend to be less aggressive. Most of Canada’s native bees are solitary, which means they work to build a nest, gather food and care for offspring independently of other bees. Some bees are social creatures and others are solitary. Flower patterns are also thought to be a factor in attracting bees.

For example, many studies have shown that the bumble bee is strongly attracted to violet and blue flowers. Bees see in ultraviolet light and are thus attracted to different hues.

This diversity of bees and the plants they pollinate can be tied to bees’ vision. What makes bumble bees, and all native bees, valuable and particularly efficient pollinators is the “assemblage,” or the diversity of bees busily working in a single space to gather nectar from a wide range of plants. Male bumble bees, called drones, have no stinger at all. Has a barbed stinger so can sting only once and then it diesīumble bees do not have a barbed sting - so they can sting several times if threatened. Has a smooth stinger so can sting many times Some other groups of bees native to Canada include: the masked bee, the plasterer bee, the small mining bee, the dagger bee, the halictid bee, the oil-collecting bee, the leaf-cutter bee, the mason bee, the dwarf carpenter bee, the cuckoo bee and the long-horned bee. Bees that are non-native, like the honey bee, were introduced to Canada from other countries. The sex of each bee can be distinguished by counting the number of segments on its back (six in females, seven in males), or the number of segments of the antennae (12 in females, 13 in males).īees like the bumble bee are native to Canada, meaning they originated here. The hind legs of female bumble bees have a wide, cupped area for collecting pollen. Bumble bees are large (13–25 mm in length), hairy bees that are usually black and yellow with clear wings with black veins. Of the roughly 800 bee species in Canada, next to the honey bee, the bumble bee is the best known. There are more than 25,000 bee species in the world. Almost 80% of all flowering plants depend on pollinators to help them transfer their pollen. Pollinators are animals that transfer pollen between plants, allowing fertilization, which is essential to fruit and seed production. Many consider bumble bees to be the most important group of pollinators. Bees are winged, often hairy, pollen-gathering insects of the Hymenoptera order.

Bumble bee sting