Just because she's the first I've seen doesn't mean she's the first one of the season to partake of the Creeping Charlies that fill our yard, but here she is, the first bumble bee I get to see of the season and she is big and beautiful. After I took these pictures, she climbed behind the leaves and flew out as if something scared her away. My guess is that a spider was lurking behind the leaves. She even became a little aggressive towards me. As I walked away, she followed me into the back yard and then flew away. I hope she's ok and didn't get stung by something. I'm hoping she flew away out of distraction from the little purple flowers filling the back yard. These bees really do love this stuff!
I love the smell of those plants, since they are related to mint, they have that minty smell when you mow them, of course don't mow the cute little bumble(?)!!! That's a cutie and hopefully, brings friends along!
That's just the beginning. We usually have many bumbles in our yard. As we get into May and the weather gets warmer, I hope to get more bumbles in a frame or perhaps a video of many of them flying and/or foraging around.
I saw one find a nesting site yesterday! She crawled into my garden through the deer fence and into a tuft of overgrown dried grass. As untidy as certain areas of my garden are (especially along the fence-line), these spots are ideal nesting locations for bumbles. We have many of them around the yard; piles of sticks, tufts of dried grass along the fence, piles of torn up mugwort, etc.. Spots like these make very desirable nesting sites for bumbles. Since I know you all want to help one of your favorite pollinator's population, especially those who like to keep their gardens tidier than I, this website has some great ideas to help make aesthetic and happy homes for our beautiful bumbles: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/beneficial/making-homes-for-bumblebees.htm and https://www.instructables.com/Build-a-Nest-Box-for-Bumblebees/ The fact that neither we, nor our immediate neighbors, use pesticides or herbicides in our yards also helps attract various bumbles and solitary bees. (We even have many of those Bracanoid Wasps to protect our tomatoes!) https://blog.nwf.org/2021/05/5-facts-about-bumble-bees-and-how-to-help-them/
