A crane lifts the flatcar from down the bank
Yesterday afternoon, I was watching the last of the C.P.R. wreck saga: the lifting of the flatcar that had jumped the tracks and slid down the bank towards the Lake. That story has been told through a number of postings: train wreck, wreck stage one √ , wreck Sunday, drowned excavator, excavator out. The only job remaining was the extraction of the flatcar from the bank. This was done yesterday.
While watching this exciting event (life here is insouciant), I saw a bumble bee fly by and abruptly ignored the C.P.R.’s travails. Heavens, that looked as if it might be a Bombus occidentalis: that is, a rare sighting of the ill-fated Western Bumble Bee. Switching lenses, I set out on a wild-bee chase. Soon I had managed to photograph two different bumble bees, behind each of which lay a fascinating story.
Bombus occidentalis
The Western Bumble Bee was once common across western North America. It was last seen in California a half-dozen years ago, and a survey in the Okanagan a couple of years ago found only two. I saw one around Kootenay Lake in 2009 and another in 2010, but none last year. In former times, hundreds or thousands might be seen during a summer. The backstory of the virtual extirpation of this once-significant local pollinator is involved. The tale combines elements of: bumble bee navigation, commercial greenhouse pollination, breeding techniques, international marketing, and (the lack of) trade regulations. Suffice to say, I was delighted to see one in my yard this afternoon. The Western Bumble Bee is easily identified by its white-tipped abdomen. This female (probably a queen) is collecting nectar from a Pieris japonica.
Bombus melanopygus
As far as I know, this bee is not threatened, so it wasn’t its conservation status that attracted my attention. Rather it was its thorax—I had never seen such a thorax. It is covered with bumps. I suspected the bumps were mites and that the bee was doomed. I sent both pictures to Robbin Thorp of UC Davis. He confirmed that my first picture did indeed show a Bombus occidentalis, and that the second was a Bombus melanopygus carrying mites on its thorax. Then came the surprise. These mites were merely hitchhiking from one colony to another aboard a queen. They are likely to be beneficial because they then feed on harmful fungi found in the nest. The queen is thus bringing her own house-cleaning staff along with her. My Bombus melanopygus and its offspring are probably going to do rather well by those mites.
The bee season is well underway.
Two bees or not to be
A crane lifts the flatcar from down the bank
Yesterday afternoon, I was watching the last of the C.P.R. wreck saga: the lifting of the flatcar that had jumped the tracks and slid down the bank towards the Lake. That story has been told through a number of postings: train wreck, wreck stage one √ , wreck Sunday, drowned excavator, excavator out. The only job remaining was the extraction of the flatcar from the bank. This was done yesterday.
While watching this exciting event (life here is insouciant), I saw a bumble bee fly by and abruptly ignored the C.P.R.’s travails. Heavens, that looked as if it might be a Bombus occidentalis: that is, a rare sighting of the ill-fated Western Bumble Bee. Switching lenses, I set out on a wild-bee chase. Soon I had managed to photograph two different bumble bees, behind each of which lay a fascinating story.
Bombus occidentalis
The Western Bumble Bee was once common across western North America. It was last seen in California a half-dozen years ago, and a survey in the Okanagan a couple of years ago found only two. I saw one around Kootenay Lake in 2009 and another in 2010, but none last year. In former times, hundreds or thousands might be seen during a summer. The backstory of the virtual extirpation of this once-significant local pollinator is involved. The tale combines elements of: bumble bee navigation, commercial greenhouse pollination, breeding techniques, international marketing, and (the lack of) trade regulations. Suffice to say, I was delighted to see one in my yard this afternoon. The Western Bumble Bee is easily identified by its white-tipped abdomen. This female (probably a queen) is collecting nectar from a Pieris japonica.
Bombus melanopygus
As far as I know, this bee is not threatened, so it wasn’t its conservation status that attracted my attention. Rather it was its thorax—I had never seen such a thorax. It is covered with bumps. I suspected the bumps were mites and that the bee was doomed. I sent both pictures to Robbin Thorp of UC Davis. He confirmed that my first picture did indeed show a Bombus occidentalis, and that the second was a Bombus melanopygus carrying mites on its thorax. Then came the surprise. These mites were merely hitchhiking from one colony to another aboard a queen. They are likely to be beneficial because they then feed on harmful fungi found in the nest. The queen is thus bringing her own house-cleaning staff along with her. My Bombus melanopygus and its offspring are probably going to do rather well by those mites.
The bee season is well underway.