Where are all the bumble bees?
This spring they seem quite scarce in Solano and Yolo County gardens, but a trip to Bodega Bay, Sonoma County, reveals different results.
They're all over the Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), a species in the family Boraginaceae, and genus Echium, native to the island of Madeira. Bumble bees spotted recently at Bodega included the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenkii, and the black-tailed bumble bee, B. melanopygus.
However, bumble bees are declining worldwide due to habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, and the spread of diseases from commercially reared bees. Scientists say that In the past two decades, American bumble bee populations have dropped by 90 percent, and if the decline isn't halted, more bumble bee species could become endangered or extinct, and plants and ecosystems across the country will suffer.
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation says on its website: "While all pollinators are facing significant threats, an analysis led by the Xerces Society, and coordinated with the IUCN North American Bumble Bee Specialist Group, indicates that more than one-quarter of North American bumble bees are facing some degree of extinction risk."
Let's support the California Bumble Bee Atlas, "a statewide community science project aimed at tracking and conserving California's native bumble bees. The 2025 field season is underway."
Meanwhile, the bumbles at Bodega are out in full force and are a joy to watch and photograph. Photographers brake for bumble bees (they scramble out of their vehicles to capture their images), but bumbles don't brake for photographers.
