Bumble Bee Summer
June 26, 2016
I'd suspected that I had a bumble bee nest in my backyard, but it was confirmed on June 26th, when we had a section of our concrete block wall replaced and one of the workers told me to look out for the "toxic bees." It turned out that the work was being done right in front of the entrance to the hive, no more than two feet away. The nest was in our compost bin, which is composed of loosely spaced concrete blocks (no mortar, just gravity holding them together). The nest entrance was at ground level, through an inch-high slit that faced the wall being rebuilt.
The demolition included lots of banging and vibration, which caused the bees to become agitated and aggressive. Failing to heed his warning (I didn't think of bumble bees as threatening), I got stung that day, my first bumble bee sting ever. However, rather than having a negative affect, this event sparked my interest and I started investigating bumble bees and observing the hive.
July and August, 2016
I identified the hive as being Bombus pensylvanicus (American Bumble Bees).
Compost bin partially shaded by Mulberry tree. Materials include long grasses, weeds, leaves from last fall, and kitchen veggie scraps. Hive entrance faces backyard wall, 18" gap between bin & wall. They are digging under the compost materials on top, pushing black compost out the entrances. This hive is in my back yard, so I have been observing it all summer. I had suspected a hive might be in the area because I'd noticed a larger number of bumble bees in the yard than usual, but it was confirmed on June 26, 2016, when we had a section of the concrete block wall surrounding our yard replaced and one of the workers told me to look out for the "toxic bees." It turned out that the work was being done right in front of the entrance to the hive, no more than two feet away. The nest entrance was at ground level, through an inch-high slit that faced the wall being rebuilt. The demolition included lots of banging and vibration, which caused the bees to become agitated and aggressive. I've been photographing the bees and adding my observations to inaturalist.org. Note that I did not kill the dead bees in the photograph I am including. I have found a number of dead bees near the nest over the summer and saved them to look at more closely. I included the photo so that you could see that the hive is Bombus pensylvanicus. You can see bees in the photos of the hive entrance, but not very clearly. They were very fast coming and going and my phone's camera is not really equipped to capture them.
