The Quest For Bumblebees
My love of bumblebees has not been a constant over my life. It began in childhood - perhaps at the age of 7 or 8, when I discovered that there was a bumblebee nest in the tattered cushion of our toboggan in the garage. I watched, partly fascinated and partly scared, as bumblebees entered and exited the cushion, flew out the open garage door, and went about their business in the greater world around me. It was fascinating to watch their industriousness, but like so many of us, I had been taught to fear them and their possible sting. My fears won out and I set about destroying their nest - likely killing the bees as I completed my mission.
The memory of the carnage I caused has stayed with me now for nearly 60 years and remains one of the most poignant lessons of my life. In a way, I still seek to make retribution for what I caused. I deeply desire to bring about a new nest of bumblebees and this time I will nurture them. It has to be bumblebees. It can't be anything else. So I plant my landscape, create potential nesting areas, and I wait.
Bumblebees are a complex bee, however, and not so easy to lure into one's yard. Honeybees are easy as you can start with a hive and purchase everything you need to get started. Just having them in your yard is simple as well. The workers will travel at least a mile from the hive to gather nectar and pollen. Many of my sweat bees require very little extra than what I've already done. They and the leaf-cutter bees are happy with some open ground to excavate their nests. It's the bumblebees that are a bit more elusive. Though there are some widely varying accounts in the literature, most would agree that bumblebees forage at closer distances to their nest than honeybees do. When nectar sources are plentiful, that distance is only about 100-350 feet, but they will travel up to a mile when good nectar sources are scarce. I suspect that my infrequent visitors are of this type as my neighborhood is a virtual desert for pollinators like these.
Bumblebees also require a place to build their hive. Unlike honeybees, they do not construct elaborate hives and they only use them for a year before deconstructing their colonies and starting over again the next spring. I've created a small mulch pile of weeded debris in a quiet corner of the backyard in hopes of someday luring them to use it as a nest, but I may go ahead and construct a simple nest box as described by The Xerces Society in their wonderful Pollinator Conservation Handbook, 2003. I feel like I owe them that much... It would be nice to finally be able to pay them back in a kinder way this time.
When I lived in Nebraska we bought this old eccentric home in the middle of the city because it was the only street that had wildlife and big trees and yards. The lady that owned it actually had it used as a hawk rehabilitation yard. It had three huge silver maples and many black walnuts. I also learned it had invasive tree of heaven and I nearly completely eliminated it, just one large one that was keeping the babies going, I didn't want to use herbicides but I did on that one. Not sure if it successfully died though. But anyway, that yard had many bumblebees! I grew to love them being around. I think we've only seen one so far in the 4 yrs we've been in Florida.
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