The friendly bumbles of Bellingham

 During a Native Plant Society field trip to Clayton Beach yesterday, we encountered numerous bumble bees that were eager to perch on us to warm up after a frosty night.

Bombus mixtus

Bumble Bee nests in the North Cascades

We got permission from the US Forest Service to place three more bumble bee nests near the Silver Fir Campground. Below are photos of the installation taken by Fred Rhoades.

Although we are dressed warmly, there is NO snow and the temperatures rose into the 50s later in the day. The flowers will soon emerge if this weather continues.

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Artificial bumble bee homes

Bumble Bee hive ready to install

One of our projects for this coming field season is to measure how far various bumble bee species travel through the mountains to pollinate flowers. We are trying to understand how sensitive these bees are to forest fragmentation that will likely occur as changes in the climate drive the treelines higher and encroach on mountain meadows. The nanotech revolution hasn't supplied us with GoPro Cameras or GPS devices small enough to attach to bees, so our plan is to examine the pollen that they bring back from their foraging missions. If a bee returns to a nest at the base of a mountain with pollen from plants that are only found at the top of the mountain, then we can deduce that they flew there themselves and didn't hitch a ride with a ranger (but you never know, they've been talking more about assisted migration...).

Jim and I built a dozen bumble bee nests out of 8" flower pots, wire mesh, mosquito netting, and sections of hose. Below are pictures of the pieces and at the bottom of this post is a list of useful resources on bumble bee nest construction.

1/4 in hardware clothe with sides folded.

Screen to keep the nest material off the wet ground

We used dried moss, cattail fluff, sedge flowers, bracken fern, and mouse bedding for our next material

Nest material and hose with nail to keep out rodents

 Super glue worked well to attach the mosquito netting to the pot

Ventilation holes with bug netting to keep pests out

Buried several inches with gravel liner for drainage

Installation complete (Ferndale)

We placed 9 nests around Bellingham and Ferndale last week, and once we get the necessary permits from the US Forest Service, we will place the last three near the Silver Fir Campground in the Mt. Baker National Forest. The day after we installed the nests in Ferndale, we observed a Bombus melanpygus queen searching for a home in the vicinity. With luck, the bees will find our nests.


Sources for more information on building bumble bee nests:

Johansen, C. 1967 Ecology of three species of bumble bees in southwestern Washington.  Wash. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 57:1-12

Hobbs, G. A. et al 1967 Ecology of species of Bombus (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in southern Alberta: Subgenus Pyrobombus. Canad. Entomol. 99:1271-1292

Sladen, F. W. L. (1912, 1989). The humble-bee. Macmillian and Co. Ltd.

Intenthron, Manfred and Gerrard, John. (1999). Making nests for bumble bees. International Bee Research Association.  (available from http://www.ibra.org.uk)