Whether or not we appreciate it, humans interact with many other species daily, from the bacteria in our guts to the squirrels visiting our bird feeders. Some, like a graceful Great Blue Heron, are easily enjoyed. Others, like a passing insect, might be brushed off as an annoyance or even feared. However, we are increasingly appreciating the importance of insects in our world.

Pollinating insects and bees in particular are poster children for insect conservation efforts because they directly benefit people. I’ve written about bees on CHS before and stated that there are over 600 species of bees native to Washington. This should give you pause. How many species of bees might you unknowingly share your days with?

: “One of the more common and obvious native bees, the Halictus genus can often be found enjoying mint and oregano plants.” PC: Brendan McGarry

This is an unanswerable question without years of training, but even if that number is a bit less on the Hill than in a native flower meadow, you’d still be surprised if you really started looking in earnest. You can quite easily learn to recognize a few common bees. Bumble bees are a good place to start. Slow moving and obligingly gentle, they are the exclusive pollinator of blueberries and tomatoes (overall they are generalists – the technical term is polylectic). Bumble bees can form colonies of 200-300 workers, which means if they are nearby, you’ll probably see more than just a few.

But unlike non-native honey bees, bumble bee queens and their colonies die every winter. Every spring, a queen born the previous year, emerges from hibernation and builds her colony. The colony grows throughout the summer and produces new queens that leave to eat, mate, and find a cozy place to hibernate and start the process again the following spring. This arrangement is the exception: most native bees are solitary nesters who mate, lay eggs, and die before the next generation has hatched. (Overall, even within a taxonomic family of bees, the diversity of life histories is astounding – some may be solitary or social or somewhere inbetween just based on conditions, some parasitize relatives, some are highly specialized to certain flowers and some like bumbles like most foods.)

Yellow-faced bumble bees visiting a non-native thistle. PC: Brendan McGarry

One of our most common species in the Pacific Northwest is the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. These large black and yellow bees might just be the bee you conjure up in your imagination. Yellow-faced bumble bees are sometimes the only species present in human dominated spaces. Research suggests they might be contributing to the decline of other native bumble bees, by outcompeting them for limited resources in urbanized areas. The good news is that modest efforts can improve pollinator habitat in your garden. Hosting a variety of native flowers that bloom throughout the year supplies diverse food options. Ceasing pesticide usage where possible. Limiting the use of concrete or even creating bumble bee boxes can support more colonies. Connected habitats, particularly in urban spaces (think Pollinator Pathways), are incredibly helpful because small, isolated pockets of bees lead to decreased genetic diversity.

Although several of the dozen or more species of bumble bees in Washington are in steep decline, we’re lucky to live in a state that takes this seriously. In 2023 Washington became the first state to adopt a statewide strategy to protect these important pollinators, made possible by data contributed to the PNW Bumble Bee Atlas by community scientists. Groups like the Washington Native Bee Society are hard at work to spread the good word on native bees as well as work on their conservation. (If you really want to eavesdrop on some niche nerds – or you know, learn – check out their Facebook group.)

Between the Atlas and the Washington Native Bee Society, there are lots of ways to learn about local bees, bumble or otherwise! Though still quite technical, there are several good books out for learning about local bees including “The Bees in Your Backyard” and the recently published “Common Bees of Western North America.” Just be careful – you’ll turn into a net wielding, loup wearing freak hunkered over flowers in no time.

Back to learning bumble bees: they are slow moving, gentle, and easy to photograph for identification, which typically requires you to assess their coloration and the arrangement of said colors. Even if you don’t have a fancy camera, you can take some video with your phone and pause so you can get images of the bee at every angle. Smaller bees might mind and fly off, but bumble bees mostly go about their business unbothered.

Once you are there, being the aforementioned freak, take a look around at who is visiting whatever flowers you are also visiting. How do you know that’s a bee and not a wasp? Is that a fly looking like a bee or a bee looking like a fly? I can’t tell you everything, you’ll just have to find out for yourself!

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