Bumble bee

How to recognise it

These are the features that identify a bumble bee. Each one is described in words so the identification works without the diagram.

1. The entire abdomen is densely furry, including the top — this is the decisive separator from a carpenter bee, whose upper abdomen is shiny, black, and bare.
2. Large and robust at 15 to 25 mm, with broad black and yellow (sometimes orange or white) bands of dense hair.
3. Flight is slow, heavy, and audibly low-pitched, quite unlike the faster, higher-pitched flight of a honey bee or a wasp.

What it leaves behind

• Small colonies in ground cavities, under decking, in compost, in old rodent burrows, or in insulation.
• A modest number of bees entering a single ground-level opening, unlike the heavy traffic of a honey bee colony.

Why an infestation persists

Important native pollinators with small annual colonies of a few dozen to a few hundred individuals that die off in autumn, leaving only new queens. They are not aggressive away from the nest. Several North American species have declined sharply and at least one is federally listed as endangered, which makes needless destruction both unhelpful and potentially a legal matter.

Where it occurs

Throughout the United States; several species are in documented decline.

Where to look for it

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• Compost heaps and piles of garden waste.
• Loft insulation and the void under floorboards, entered through a small gap.
• Behind cladding and inside cavity walls with an accessible opening.
• Look for a modest trickle of large furry bees at a single low opening, not the heavy traffic of a honey bee colony.

When you see it, and why

A queen founds the colony in spring, it grows through summer to a few dozen or a few hundred individuals, and it dies off entirely in autumn leaving only new queens to overwinter elsewhere. The nest is never reused. That annual cycle is the whole practical answer for most nests: a colony discovered in July will be gone by October without any intervention.

What getting the identification wrong costs you

Mistaken for a carpenter bee, and the difference is the abdomen — furry throughout in a bumble bee, shiny and bare on top in a carpenter bee. The reason this matters more than most look-alike pairs is conservation: several North American Bombus species have declined sharply and the rusty patched bumble bee is federally listed as endangered, so needless destruction is both unhelpful and potentially a legal matter.

What a professional actually does

Usually the right advice is to do nothing until autumn, and a good operator will say so. The colony dies off on its own, the nest is never reused, and sealing the cavity after the season ends prevents a repeat permanently. Where a nest genuinely sits in a doorway or a high-traffic area, ask specifically about live relocation before destruction — several North American species are in decline and one is federally listed as endangered.