Queen Quest

It's likely that queens have been out for a few days now, but today was the day. It's a beautiful, sunny day, in the 60s. Flowers that would normally be very attractive to bees have been open for a couple of weeks now. Natalia Bjorklund reported a bumble bee sighting, so I grabbed a net and went on a quest. Several Bombus bimaculatus queens are active (I counted 5 at one time) around a Rhodadendron bush right on East Campus. They are busy collecting nectar, and possibly pollen (as evidenced by some pollen build up on the corbicula of one photographed queen) amongst their cousins: honey bees and mason bees (Osmia sp.). I noticed one other queen nest seeking around a stream bank, but cannot confirm the species. Looking forward to seeing these queens, and others, soon!