I went back out to really open the door, and saw the cause of all the buzzing.This "little" fella:
He was about an inch and a half long and was by far the largest and loudest bumble bee I have ever seen and heard! (And I've seen quite a few buzzing around in the good ole' summertime.)
I was going to leave him to buzz 'round 'till death do him part with the world... but then my homeschooler senses took over.
I've never seen a bumble bee that big, or with that color, what is he?
After an unsuccessful search of "black bumble bee with stripe" which came up with this as a search result:
it dawned upon me that maybe a closer look was called for. Also, I felt terrible for leaving the poor thing to die a horrible death knocking itself against the window pane. Bumbles are getting rarer (so I've heard) and I couldn't just let a perfectly good one die! So...
...to the garage for a large vase to hold him in!
Bugs make me skittish. From harmless dead worms on the sidewalk to hideous spiders. Bees are no exception. We have a home video from when we first moved into the house... we're in the backyard and a bee flies near me and I run screaming to the other side of the yard.
So I was very proud of myself when I captured this huge bug in a large vase today.
We think it was either a Bombus californicus (California bumble bee) or a Bombus vosnesenskii (yellow-faced bumble bee). The yellow-faced bumble bee is probably more likely.
You just have to look for it in the every day.
Live long and prosper!
Aww, I love bumblebees! They're so cute! We found a bumblebee with a red spot on his back burrowing in our garden once, and that led to a identification search, which is always a fun mystery to solve.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's interesting! I've never heard of a bumble bee burrowing before. (Alliteration alert!)
Delete:) I'm not a fan of bugs either... though some bother me far more than others. Worms, slugs, spiders, bumblebees, and even ants (so long as they're not the biting kind) are fine - as long as they stay out of my house.
ReplyDeleteCockroaches... on the other hand... are not welcome ANYWHERE.
So funny that your image search yielded the Camero! Hahahaha.
I agree. Bugs that come inside are immediately 70% worse than they are outside.
DeleteHaha, the image search also came up with some yellow and black striped socks!
re: "Adventure is out there..." It is a rare gift to be able to see the details of God's world and be amazed. Often we just need to slow down and look for it. I'm glad you found a little bit of that adventure.
ReplyDelete