• Very hairy bodies, including hair on legs and abdomen
• Yellow, orange or white hairs on BOTH thorax and abdomen
• Very large body size: Queens, 17-21 mm; workers, 8-16 mm; and males, 10-17 mm

Bumble bees are social bees with annual colonies, started in the spring by a single queen. Bumble bees nest in cavities such as abandoned rodents’ nests. They are generalists and will feed on a variety of flowers. In the early spring, you will only see queens, as workers are not born until late spring and summer.

Photos by Jeremy Hemberger