Mount Rainier National Park Pollinator Guide 🐝 🦋
This ID guide can be used to help you or others ID pollinators - butterflies and bumble bees - that are found in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state (U.S.)
Van Dyke's Bumble Bee
Size:
Queen 17 – 19 mm
Workers 10 – 16 mm
Male 26 – 29 mm
Flowers:
Phacelia, Collinsia, Clarkia, Streptanthus, Penstemon, Stachys
Nest:
Underground.
Similar species:
B. vosnesenskii, B. caliginosus, and B. californicus
Nevada Bumble Bee
Size:
Queen 24-25 mm
Workers 15-21mm
Male 16-19mm
Diet:
Astragalus, Balsamorhiza, Ceanothus, Cirsium, Helianthus, Melilotus, Ribes, Vicia
Nest:
Nests underground, but also infrequently on the surface
Similar species:
B. fervidus
Fog-belt Bumble Bee
Size:
Queen 21 - 23 mm
Workers 9 - 14 mm
Male 12 - 14 mm
Flowers:
Baccharis, Cirsium, Lupinus, Lotus, Grindelia, Phacelia
Nest:
Underground and may be very large, containing up to 450 workers.
Similar species:
B. vosnesenskii or B. vandykei
Hunt's Bumble Bee
Size:
Queen 19 - 20 mm
Workers 11 - 14 mm
Male 9 - 13 mm
Flowers:
Rabbitbrush, thistles, sunflowers, penstemons, phacelias, currants, rudbeckias, and clovers.
Nest:
Nests are mostly underground, sometimes on the ground surface.
Similar species:
B. bifarius, B. sylvicola, B. melanopygus, and B. rufocinctus
Yellow-faced Bumble Bee
Size:
Queen 18 - 21 mm
Workers 8 - 17 mm
Male 10 - 15 mm
Flowers:
Lupinus, Cirsium, Eriogonum, Phacelia, Clarkia, and Ericameria
Nest:
Abandoned rodent dens or other dry hollows in the ground.
Similar species:
B. caliginosus, B. occidentalis, and B. vandykei
Sitka Bumble Bee
Size:
Queen 15 - 20 mm
Workers 9 - 14 mm
Male 9 - 14 mm
Flowers:
Aquilegia, Brassica, Ceanothus, Cirsium, Epilobium, Lathyrus, Lupinus, Phacelia, Rhododendron, Ribes, Rosa, Rubus, Salix, Solidago, Stachys, Symphyotrichum, Vaccinium and Vicia
Nest:
Nests built underground, presumably in rodent burrows.
Similar species:
B. ...more ↓
Yellow-Fronted Bumble Bee
Size:
Queen 16 - 18 mm
Workers 10 - 13 mm
Male 10 - 14 mm
Flowers:
Alpine leafybract aster, little flower penstemon, beebalm, and Gunnison's mariposa lily
Nest:
Nests built mostly underground, rarely on the ground surface.
Similar species:
B. centralis and B. sitkensis
