I was sitting quietly by Balsam Lake, Ontario, when I noticed this industrious bumble bee. I don’t know what species it is – Ontario has numerous species of native bees and I’m not an expert. I usually avoid them.
Bumble bees are large and fuzzy. Their colours and patterns vary – yellows, blacks, white, orange, brown. Most are colonial with a queen and workers in the hive.
I think ours are big enough. I wouldn’t want to meet one species in Chile which grows up to about 40 mm long (1.5 inches). It’s no wonder they’ve nicknamed them “flying mice”.
Bumble bees don’t have a very long lifespan. To prepare for winter, the queen bee lays eggs for other queen bees and some workers. These new queen bees mate and then hibernate for the winter in their own nests. In the meantime, the old queen and her workers all die. In the spring, the new queen lays a batch of eggs. When these eggs hatch, they are worker bees who take care of cleaning the hive and going out for more nectar and pollen.
If bumblebees flew like an airplane, we might wonder how they are even able to fly at all. However, their wings move in a different way which provides the lift they need. It’s amazing the way God has made them to be able to do this. 