Bombus huntii

It seemed to be awfully early in the year to see this girl darting around in the crocuses. You sure got yourself a bit messy, young lady! This dusty darling is a Bombus huntii queen, or Hunt or Hunt's bumble bee, which I found in the online Bumble Bees of the Western United States publication. Turns out her appearance is not at all early, but just in time as the section on Bombus huntii indicates that mid-March through mid-May is her time to find a place to build her nest underground and start rounding up help for her nursery. But not much is said about this little gal (or actually quite big gal, compared to her male workers). Here's what I found:

Her natural habitat is "high desert shrub, grassland and mixed prairie, irrigated prairie and riparian woodland, prairie parkland, sagebrush shrubsteppe, subalpine forest meadows" according to the Montana Field Guide, so it surprised me a little bit to see her in downtown Payette, ID.

According to the BugWood wiki, "Bumble bees are social insects that establish colonies which last through a growing season. Colonies are initiated in spring by an overwintered and previously fertilized female, known as the queen. As the colony develops and expands it may ultimately be populated over 100 individuals that are organized into different castes. Dominating are infertile females, known as workers. By midsummer some males are usually produced along with some large females, which will serve as potential queens of the following season. The original queen, along with all workers and males perish at the end of the year."

And the reason why she's covered in pollen? The same site tells me that "they have a different approach to pollen collection than do honey bees and most other bees, known as “buzz pollination.” When visiting a flower a bumble bee will often grasp it with its mandibles and vibrate, causing the pollen to be shaken out onto its body." It's also the reason why many bumblebees are used in pollination of greenhouse-grown tomatoes.

You shake all you want, girl. Knowing that you've only got one summer with us, get out of it what you can! 

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mandibulata
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Bombus
Species: B. Huntii