Posts Tagged: Yellow-faced bumble bee

Battle Over the Lavender: Mine, All Mine!

A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is foraging on lavender in a Vacaville garden. Abruptly, the bumble bee senses a fast-approaching honey bee, Apis mellifera. Bombus: "Hey, bee, this is my territory, my...

A yellow-face bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is interrupted by a fast-approaching honey bee as it's nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A yellow-face bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is interrupted by a fast-approaching honey bee as it's nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

There Is No Planet 'B'

There is no "Planet B."  The Earth is all we have. Today, April 22, is Earth Day (an annual event launched April 22, 1970) and what a perfect occasion to celebrate a native bee and a native wildflower.  Bombus vosnesenskii,aka the...

A yellow-faced bumble bee,Bombus vosnesenskii, buzzes into a barely opened California golden poppy in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A yellow-faced bumble bee,Bombus vosnesenskii, buzzes into a barely opened California golden poppy in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Check the orange pollen on this yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Check the orange pollen on this yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

And we have a lift-off! The pollen basket is easily recognized here. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

And we have a lift-off! The pollen basket is easily recognized here. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ready for take-off! The bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, prepares to leave the California golden poppy. Both are natives. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ready for take-off! The bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, prepares to leave the California golden poppy. Both are natives. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Blooms and Bombus in Benicia

There she was, a beautiful yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging Feb. 27 on African trailing daisies, Osteospermum fruticosum, in the Matthew Turner Shipyard Park, Benicia, Calif. The bee buzzed cautiously amid the pink...

A bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on trailing African daisies at the Matthew Turner Shipyard Park, Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on trailing African daisies at the Matthew Turner Shipyard Park, Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of a bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on trailing African daisies at the Matthew Turner Shipyard Park, Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of a bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on trailing African daisies at the Matthew Turner Shipyard Park, Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Return of Bombus

The English lavender drew her in. And there she was, a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging in our family's pollinator garden in Vacaville. She buzzed from blossom to blossom, ignoring the honey bees, syrphid flies...

A yellow-faced Bombus vosnesenskii, prepares to sip nectar from an English lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A yellow-faced Bombus vosnesenskii, prepares to sip nectar from an English lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, sipping nectar.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, sipping nectar.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Side view of the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Side view of the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, departs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, departs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Very Hungry Bumble Bee

She was all bees-ness, this yellow-faced queen bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. There she was, foraging in a bed of steely blue-purple flowers,  Eryngium amethystinum, a genus that belongs to the carrot...

Can you spot the bumble bee in this bed of Eryngium amethystinum in the Sunset Gardens, Sonoma Cornerstone? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Can you spot the bumble bee in this bed of Eryngium amethystinum in the Sunset Gardens, Sonoma Cornerstone? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image shows the characteristic yellow face and yellow stripe on the abdomen of a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. She is nectaring Eryngium amethystinum, in the Sunset Gardens at Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image shows the characteristic yellow face and yellow stripe on the abdomen of a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. She is nectaring Eryngium amethystinum, in the Sunset Gardens at Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

With her long proboscis, B. vosnesenskii sips nectar from an Eryngium amethystinum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

With her long proboscis, B. vosnesenskii sips nectar from an Eryngium amethystinum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of the yellow face of the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of the yellow face of the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bombus vosnesenskii moves around the Eryngium amethystinum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bombus vosnesenskii moves around the Eryngium amethystinum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bye, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bye, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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