The bee gets its name for the distinctive rust-colored patch on its rear body segment (called the abdomen). This rusty patch is located on the center of its second abdominal segment, which is yellow. The patch is only found on the males and female workers. The queens do not have the rusty patch, making their identification much more difficult. (Please do not seek out the queens. It’s best to leave them be. ).
For all Rusty Patched Bumble Bees, the top of their heads has a patch of black hair. Additionally, a hairy black band stretches between each wing.
After the queen, the males are the smallest bees in the colony. The female workers are the smallest.
It is easy to mistake the Brown-belted Bumble Bee (B. abbreviata) for a Rusty Patched Bumble Bee when it comes to its Virginia range. griseocollis). The Brown-belted is also one of the three most common bumble bees in this area. You are much more likely to see one than a Rusty Patched. To distinguish the two, look closely at the abdomen (rear) of the bee.
The Brown-belted has a solid brown patch in the middle of its second abdominal segment. This patch is shaped like a crescent moon and has black hairs on either side of it. The rusty spot on the second abdominal segment of the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is by itself in a “sea of yellow.”
You can use The Xerces Society’s Pocket guide to Identifying the Rusty-patched Bumble Bee to help you tell it apart from the Brown-bellied Bumble Bee and other bee species.
This species mostly lives in grasslands and tallgrass prairies, but it also lives in woodlands and pastures, especially in Virginia. These ground-nesting bees usually build their nests in empty rodent holes that are one to four feet below the ground, but sometimes they do it in clumps of grass above ground. Hibernating queens overwinter in undisturbed soil, a few inches below the surface.
Currently ranges through 13 scattered Eastern and Upper Midwest states in the U. S. and 1 Southeastern Canadian province. It is only found in Fauquier, Augusta, Bath, Highland, and Rockingham counties in Virginia. This is only a small part of where it used to be found in the Commonwealth.
The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is a very social species that lives in groups with a queen, female workers, and males. When compared to other bumble bee species, their colonies are big; a healthy Rusty Patched Bumble Bee colony can have up to 1,000 workers.
In the spring, queens emerge from their underground hibernation. They initiate a colony by seeking a nest site, collecting nectar and pollen from flowers, and laying eggs. From these first eggs, hatch the workers. Workers build the colony; they collect food, care for young, and defend the colony. Meanwhile, the queens stay in their nests and continue laying eggs. Towards the end of summer, these eggs begin hatching males and new queens. The males leave the colony to mate with queens from other colonies. The colony dies all the way down to the new queens in the fall; they are the only ones who stay alive. These new queens hibernate over winter and the cycle begins again in the spring.
Bumble bees are one of the most common types of bees found in Virginia. With their large, furry bodies and signature buzzing sound, bumble bees play an important role as pollinators in the state’s ecosystems. This guide will provide an in-depth look at the different species of bumble bees in Virginia, their identification, behavior, habitat, and importance.
An Overview of Bumble Bees in Virginia
There are over 250 species of bumble bees found across the United States, with at least 10 species calling Virginia home. The most common species found in the state include
- American bumble bee (Bombus pensylvanicus)
- Brown-belted bumble bee (Bombus griseocollis)
- Common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens)
- Yellowbanded bumble bee (Bombus terricola)
- Half-black bumble bee (Bombus vagans)
- Red-belted bumble bee (Bombus rufocinctus)
Bumble bees thrive in areas with flowering plants and undisturbed soil where they can build underground nests. Gardens, meadows, woodland edges, and agricultural fields provide ideal habitat. The queens emerge from hibernation in early spring, searching for nest sites and food sources to kickstart new colonies.
Identifying Bumble Bees in Virginia
Identifying bumble bees starts with recognizing a few key features:
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Large furry bodies Bumble bees are generally larger and furrier than other bees like honeybees. They have round, plump bodies covered in soft hair.
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Black and yellow/white color bands: Bumble bee species feature different patterns of black and yellow or white bands. The pattern can help identify different species.
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“Buzz” sound: Bumble bees create a loud buzzing sound as they fly from flower to flower. This is caused by the rapid beating of their wings.
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Pollen baskets: Female worker bees have special structures on their hind legs called pollen baskets to carry pollen back to the nest.
Observing the color patterns, listening for the buzz, and spotting loaded pollen baskets are the best ways to identify bumble bees in Virginia.
Interesting Facts About Virginia’s Bumble Bees
Beyond their identification, here are some fascinating facts about bumble bees in Virginia:
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Only female bumble bees can sting, and stings are rare unless the bee is provoked. Male bees cannot sting.
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Bumble bee colonies live for just one year. In the fall, the colony dies except for newly fertilized queens that overwinter.
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Bumble bees are vital pollinators of crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants as well as wildflowers.
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Some bumble bee species like the American bumble bee have declined over the past decades due to habitat loss, disease, and climate change.
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Bumble bees utilize “buzz pollination” by grabbing the pollen-producing anther of flowers in their jaws and vibrating their wings, dislodging pollen.
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Virginia designated the Appalachian carpenter bee as the state’s official bee in 2020 to promote pollinator conservation.
When and Where to Find Bumble Bees in Virginia
The warm seasons of spring, summer, and fall are the best times to spot bumble bees buzzing from flower to flower in Virginia. Some tips on where to look:
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Backyards: Bumble bees love ornamental flowers, vegetable gardens, and berry bushes found in backyards.
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Parks and natural areas: Hiking trails lined with wildflowers are bumble bee hotspots. Check open meadows and forest edges.
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Farms: Agricultural operations like orchards and crop fields provide sustenance for bumble bees.
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Suburban neighborhoods: Gardens, landscaping, and untouched lots draw bumble bees close to homes.
Early morning and mid-day when the sun warms the air provides the highest chance of spotting the bees at work. Patience and quiet observation will be rewarded with bumble bee sightings.
Why Bumble Bees Matter in Virginia
While observing bumble bees is enjoyable, these furry insects are critically important to Virginia’s ecology and economy. Here’s why bumble bees matter:
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Pollination: Bumble bees pollinate wildflowers, shrubs, and agricultural crops from apples to tomatoes supporting ecosystem health.
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Food production: The pollination services of bumble bees are valued in the millions for Virginia’s farms, gardens, and orchards.
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Biodiversity: As native pollinators, bumble bees help maintain plant diversity essential for wildlife habitats.
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Indicator species: Declining bumble bee populations signal broader environmental threats impacting many species.
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Education: Bumble bees can teach lessons about ecology, conservation, and interdependence to Virginia’s youth.
From backyards to large landscapes, bumble bees make an outsized impact in Virginia through their tireless pollination efforts. Protecting habitats and fostering awareness are key to ensuring their buzz remains part of the natural soundtrack.
Bumble bees hold a special place among Virginia’s diverse pollinator species. Their distinct appearance, behavior, and ecology make them a fascinating insect to discover across the state. Whether spotted on a hike or buzzing through your own garden, take a moment to appreciate the humble bumble bee. The health of these furry creatures and our environment are closely linked, making an understanding of bumble bees integral to the conservation of Virginia’s natural heritage.
Where to See in Virginia
At this point, only five counties in Virginia are known to have Rusty Patched Bumble Bees: Fauquier, Augusta, Bath, Highland, and Rockingham. The last four, more western counties, have a slightly higher number of bees, so those are the best places to look for them. However, even within those counties, their populations are extremely low, making it very rare to spot them.
Look for a Rusty Patched Bumble Bee in July, which is the best month to see one in Virginia. This will increase your chances of seeing one.
Follow the links below to learn about the DWR’s pollinator projects on public lands where you can see other types of bumble bees.
The Road to Recovery
The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is the first bumble bee in U.S. history to be made an endangered species. This bumblebee used to live in the eastern US, the midwest, and parts of southeastern Canada. But over the last twenty years, it has become less common, falling to about 287 percent of its historic range. In Virginia, the bee used to live in most of the mountainous areas and western piedmont, as well as in the middle of the state and the Northern Neck. It now only lives in five counties. In January of 2017, the U. S. The Endangered Species Act says that the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is an endangered species. This was said by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (1972).
This bee’s sharp drop in numbers is probably due to a number of factors, such as disease, habitat loss and degradation, intensive farming methods, pesticides, and climate change.
One of the biggest threats to the bee may be a pathogen called Nosema bombi, a disease that affects reproductive health and fitness of bumble bee colonies, among other issues. Evidence has shown that this disease may have spread into the wild from commercial bee colonies and the increased incidence in the wild follows the timeline of commercialization. Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is one of the few bee species known to have had high incidences of the disease.
Habitat loss and degradation have also had a particularly negative impact on this and other bee species. Most of the prairies and grasslands that the bee used to live in have been destroyed by farming and urbanization. The few grasslands that are left are small and spread out. The use of more pesticides and a lack of plant diversity in intensive farming make the damage to bumble bees even worse.
Climate change challenges native wild bees with weather extremes, early snow melts, and late frosts. Bumble bee spring emergence may also become out of sync with the blooming of spring flowers. Also, records from the past show that bumble bee populations are moving north and up to higher elevations, and their ranges are getting smaller.
Since listing Rusty Patched Bumble Bee as a federally endangered species, the USFWS developed a draft recovery plan for the bee in 2019, which contains a list of actions to address these threats, stop the bee’s decline, and prevent its extinction.
In Virginia, the lead state agency for federally endangered insects, such as the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, is the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS). VDACS has been working with the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Natural Heritage Program on the inventory and documentation efforts for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. Since beginning those surveys in 2018, the Natural Heritage program has documented four new occurrences of the bee in Virginia.
What the DWR Has Done/ Is Doing
DWR is the lead agency in Virginia for the conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitat. This includes protecting any bugs that aren’t on the federal or state list of threatened or endangered species. This means that DWR is in charge of most of Virginia’s pollinator species. So, we’ve been working to make our Wildlife Management Areas, Lakes, and private lands across the state better places for pollinators to live. This work makes the habitat better for the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee, which is one of the most important things the USFWS wants to do to help the bee recover. DWR also offers education and outreach on pollinator habitat.
- In 2020, DWR and DCR’s Natural Heritage Program found 10 Rusty Patched Bumble Bees on Highland Wildlife Management Area (Highland County). This was a big find because only three bees were seen in the original 2018 survey. Also, one of the bees that was seen was in a field that DWR just started to restore. This field had been damaged by cattle grazing for a long time, and non-native timothy grass had taken over. In the spring of 2020, DWR began turning it back into a native wildflower meadow by setting it on fire and spraying it with herbicide. The fact that the endangered bee is now living in the newly restored meadow shows that DWR’s work is helping pollinators. At Highland WMA, the DWR takes care of 44 acres of native wildflower meadows. Thanks to the DWR’s “Restore the Wild” fund, an extra 7 acres will be added in 2021. The DWR takes care of these meadows by controlling fires, selling small amounts of wood, and planting native plants along old logging roads. These places are good for pollinators and many other kinds of wildlife.
- Lake Shenandoah (Rockingham County): The western arm of the lake property was once a lawn that was mowed and is now a meadow where pollinators can live. When the DWR opened the 2-acre area in the spring of 2015, staff and volunteers planted native grasses and wildflowers that pollinators like. This project has been a success thanks to ongoing maintenance done with the help of the Virginia Master Naturalists. As part of other management and restoration efforts, prescribed burns have been used to get rid of woody plants and encourage the growth of native plants. An even greater number of groups have also helped with community meetings, outreach programs, and interpretive signs.
- Goshen Wildlife Management Area (Rockbridge and Augusta County): This mostly wooded WMA has a unique open space called “The Meadow Ground,” a 35-acre highland meadow. DWR keeps this meadow full of different kinds of native grasses and wildflowers by using controlled burns and herbicides to help pollinators and grassland birds.
- Vic Thomas State Fish Hatchery (Campbell County): The DWR added about 3 acres of plants and animals that pollinate to the Hatchery grounds in 2018. DWR planted native seed mixes that were right for the site’s upland and wetland areas. The project cut down on lawn mowing, made wildlife habitat better, and gave people a chance to learn. Since the Hatchery is close to the Town of Brookneal, a lot of people in the area use the area to walk. To help with this, DWR made interpretive signs about pollinators for the project site. In 2020, with money from Restore the Wild, DWR will add an extra 5 acres of pollinator plantings and wildlife-friendly native shrubs to the side of a hill.
- Cumberland County’s Cumberland State Forest: In 2017, DWR and the Department of Forestry (DOF) worked together to create 5 wildflower meadows, which added 8 acres of pollinator habitat to the State Forest. This was made possible by a national grant that encouraged forestry and wildlife departments to work together.
- Amelia Wildlife Management Area (Amelia County): The DWR planted wildflower meadows on 5 acres of land at Amelia WMA in 2017 to provide pollinators with a place to live.
- Big Woods Wildlife Management Area and Big Woods State Forest (Sussex County): In 2018, DWR started fixing up 20 old logging decks, which are worn-out open spaces where wood was sorted and loaded onto trucks. DWR and DOF planted pollinator seed mixes in those areas, and we’ve been doing controlled burns to help the native seedbank grow. This seedbank has many wildflowers that are good for pollinators. The National Wild Turkey Federation helped pay for some of this project.
Education and Outreach on Pollinator Habitat
- Habitat Resources: The DWR website has a lot of information to help people get started and get ideas for pollinator habitats.
- Habitat Partners© Education Program—For more than ten years, this DWR program trained volunteers to help community leaders build native plant demonstration gardens where people could see wildlife and learn about plants.
- Private Lands Wildlife Biologists (PLWBs)—For private landowners, DWR has a team of five PLWBs hired together with Virginia’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). These biologists are experts at evaluating landowner habitats on-site and then making detailed management plans when needed. One of the most important parts of their technical knowledge is working with native plant species.
Learn More About Our Work
Watch: Pollinator Habitat Restoration at Lake Shenandoah in celebration of National Pollinator Week (2017)
Role in the Web of Life
Watch: Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Pollinating Purple-flowering Raspberry : Video by Sarah Warner/ USFWS
Bumble bees are very effective pollinators, making them a keystone species. They play a critical role in maintaining our food supply and keeping our ecosystems healthy. They are needed for native wildflowers to grow and for seeds and fruits to grow, which feed many animals, from birds to bears.
Bumble bees are very important pollinators because they are “buzz pollinators.” This means that while they are holding a flower, the bee vibrates its flight muscles, which moves pollen that is hard to reach. Being able to do this can make them better at pollinating some plants than bees that don’t buzz pollinate, like honeybees. It also is what makes them highly efficient pollinators for many crops. They are very important to tomatoes because they are one of the few insects that can pollinate them. Cranberries, blueberries, plums, apples, peppers, and alfalfa also need them.
Bumble Bees in the morning SW Virginia 18 July 2023
FAQ
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