American bumble bees have disappeared from these 8 states. Now they could face extinction.

[packman]

Dwindling populations of the American bumble bee and their complete disappearance from eight states has led to call for the bee to be placed under the Endangered Species Act before they face extinction.

Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Oregon each have zero or close to zero American bumble bees left, according to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and Bombus Pollinators Association of Law Students.

"The American bumble bee was once the most common bumble bee species in North America, but without immediate action to protect it under the ESA, it will continue its alarming decline towards extinction," the petition authors wrote.

Over the last two decades, the American bumble bee population has decreased by 89% across the U.S. New York had a decline of 99% and they disappeared from the northern part of Illinois that has seen a 74% decrease in population since 2004, the petition said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/14/american-bumble-bees-disappeared-8-states-face-extinction/8448637002/

[LakeArenal]

1. Should be a major headline everywhere.

Probably won’t make it to the front page on DU.

Terrible.

[jimfields33]

4. Kids yell, "no more bee stings"

The last on I got was 30 years ago. The bugger went up my hat and stung the back of my head. It hurt like the dickens. I’m not sad to see them at least get to the point of leaving us alone.

[LakeArenal]

5. Then you don't know how important that bee is to the environment.

[jimfields33]

7. Everything is important to the environment

Maybe the federal government will do something. I’m just saying he’s stings suck!

[LakeArenal]

10. 30 years ago no less. Bumble bees are some of the least aggressive.

Honey bees are not very aggressive either.

[jimfields33]

12. I guess I got the one and only one

Yes it was a traumatic event.

[jcgoldie]

43. yes getting stung sucks

Just like losing biological diversity and crops failing to seed due to lack of pollinators sucks... what an assinine comment.

[jimfields33]

49. I loved the comment. Thanks!

[USALiberal]

26. So you're glad bees are dying off because you got stung 30 years ago???

[Bev54]

28. OMG bees have an extremely important job in our

ecology. Sadly it is those who do not understand that has been the biggest threat. In Canada, the bee population has declined but certainly nowhere near that of the American bee. We are much more educated here about the importance of the bees as are our children who learn about it in school. Many people plant wild flower gardens to keep the bees going and certainly we have banned many pesticides that are still available in the US.

[pnwmom]

30. The American bumble bees are replaced by a kind that sting more. Happy now? n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

2. I love bumble bees 🐝

I’ve certainly seen fewer of them here in Montane the last few years and I miss them.

[Botany]

3. What can be done by you and me. Plant native plants, protect their haibitat, limit the use of

... insecticides, and remove and or do not plant any more non native invasive plants.

Xerces Society





Join Doug's new National National Park.

[Hortensis]

8. Yes. It's fall too, for most areas perfect time to tuck in

a shrub or two that'll be a happy gathering spot for flying critters next summer.

We're in north GA and saw a big decrease and delay in appearance of garden insects this spring and summer. Comparatively few of anything, including bumbles. Tragic.

[H2O Man]

9. +1

[dalton99a]

16. +1

[geardaddy]

36. We have lots of native plants

and other pollinators. I love seeing the wildlife here in the city.

[hibbing]

44. My state arboretum has plant sales of natives

I am transforming what was my boring and wasteful lawn into a mini meadow. My asters are blooming now and are covered in multiple kinds of bees. The plants are only 3.50 each they are small but some grow and bloom first year, others take a bit. I always have something blooming though and one of the main reasons I do it is just to go look at all the bees, beetles and other insects all over my plants. The only time I ever water is when I have new plants being established. These aster plants are now quite large, probably close to 4 feet across, I need to divide them in the spring! Side note, honeybees while great, are not native bees.




Peace

[Botany]

50. Good job!

Do not do "a fall clean up" let the plants stand up all winter and then cut 'em back in early to mid April
when you have had 4 to 5 days in a row of > 50 degree F temps. let at least 50 % of the old plant material
stay on the ground in your prairie. Leave some areas of bare soil that is not too compacted (you can loosen
it up now) and is exposed to the south or west also leave some rotten logs and or stumps for native pollinator
homes. Plant some native shrubs that will provide fruits for the birds, leaves for the insects, and those insects
or their young will feed the native song birds net spring.

Having a heard of bison would be a nice touch too.

[shanti]

60. Xeriscaping is the way to go

Four years ago, I tore out my dead front lawn (due to the drought here in CA), and went lawn free. Now, it's mulched with perennial lavender, lilies, a flowering ground cover, and a small lemon tree, on a light drip system. I love it and so do all of the butterflies and bumblebees! Grass just didn't make sense anymore.

[samnsara]

6. they were all in my house!

[Quakerfriend]

11. More than usual on our property (Philadelphia area) this year

My husband and I saw a dramatic rebound in them this year.
It made our hearts sing!
- To be outside in the early morning, just before sunrise, and hear them already working diligently from blossom to blossom 🥰

[ratchiweenie]

13. One year I added a lot of clover to my yard and had tons of bumble bees. My current yard is awful.

Guess I'll order clovers again and bee balm for my beds and see if I can attract them again. Love bumblebees.

[StarryNite]

14. Could A Bumblebee Learn To Play Fetch? Probably

Interesting article on bumblebees...

Could A Bumblebee Learn To Play Fetch? Probably

[link:https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/02/24/516532358/could-a-bumblebee-learn-to-play-fetch-probably|

[Celerity]

42. To post a link, just cut & paste, don't use the link button, that's to insert a hyperlink into text

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/02/24/516532358/could-a-bumblebee-learn-to-play-fetch-probably

The same link inserted into text


Cheers,

Cel

[StarryNite]

15. I had a lot of honeybees this year.

And a butterfly bonanza! It was amazing. I've never seen so many butterflies before. It did my heart good. I planted several kinds of flowers to attract them but by the time the flowers started blooming a lot of the butterflies and bees were gone.

[berniesandersmittens]

20. I had a few days of massive lightning bugs this year

About twilight the whole forest behind my house was lit up. I have never seen so many in my life. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've witnessed.

I hope they come back next year.

[elevator]

17. Seems to me fireflies, or lightning bugs, as we called them are going away too.

I live in Mexico now and there never were many here, but in Georgia, before I moved seven years ago I noticed a decline in the numbers.

[jcgoldie]

47. I still see a lot of fireflies here in southern Illinois throughout summer

Although I realize thats completely anecdotal may vary widely in different places. I do keep honeybees and that gets harder and harder do to many factors some know and unknown.

[misanthrope]

57. We have plenty in our backyard

Mainly because I don't insist on keeping it meticulously cut and managed. We have plenty of ground level vegetation, dead leaves and the like, for the fireflies to live in. If people let up a little on their yard micro-management, the fireflies would return.

[zentrum]

18. People seem not realize

......how essential pollinators are to the food supply.

[jalan48]

19. We'd like to do something but you know, the deficit.

[Timewas]

21. Oregon

Not completely gone I still see many during the summer here...But honestly not as many as there used to be by a long shot

[Tree Lady]

46. Southern Oregon I still see them

Not as many but they are around. Were in my backyard this summer.

[Timewas]

56. Yes

I am in southern Oregon also, they are still here

[Efilroft Sul]

22. Pittsburgh area here. Honeybee population shot up for me this year. Bumblebees were down, though.

Darn shame, because the bumblebees like to play around with me when I water the gardens. They are really fun.

[appleannie1]

45. I live north of you. We are starting to get honeybees back, slowly but surely.

For a couple years I had not seen any bees at all. None, zip, zilch. I am allergic to their venom but I like seeing them in my acreage anyway because they help with my garden.

[Efilroft Sul]

53. Great news! I'm allergic to bee stings, too, but I was glad to see them here this year.

[Chipper Chat]

23. I miss those big garden spiders and their huge webs.

I had them every year. We use to feed them carpenter ants. Its been 5 years since ive seen one

[ffr]

24. The 6th mass exctinction appears to be accelerating

It just underlines how important every election will be from now on. We must act as though our lives depend on the outcome of every election.

GOTV!

[DENVERPOPS]

37. Mother Nature

is telling us in oh so many ways, that she is fed up with the way earth's inhabitants are treating HER planet and is retaliating, BIG TIME.
Hurricanes, Volcanoes, global temperature warming, glaciers and polar ice caps melting, droughts, floods, etc etc etc.

[maxsolomon]

25. do we actually know why?

Climate change, pesticides, disease, habitat loss and competition from honey bees are listed as driving the bee to extinction.

I'm in Seattle, and I have lots of Bumbles still, but maybe only because we consciously plant to provide flora for fauna, never use pesticides, and there aren't any (honey) beekeepers around that I know of.

If I'm going to feel guilty, I should at least know what I'm doing wrong.

[mathematic]

33. The american bumble bee was never in seattle

According to this link, it's suspected that the decline is due to a bee virus from imported european bumble bees.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/american-bumble-bee.shtml

[maxsolomon]

40. Oh. OK, then what am I calling a Bumble Bee?

Common species in the Pacific Northwest: Black tail bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus; fuzzy-horned bumble bee, Bombus mixtus; yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii; California bumble bee, Bombus californica.

Mostly I see the Yellow-faced, then.

Never stop learning.

[bucolic_frolic]

27. Where can I donate?

[mathematic]

29. NB The "american bumble bee" is a specific species of bumble bee

There are lots of common bumble bee species that are doing fine, the common eastern bumble bee for example.



https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/american-bumble-bee.shtml

It is strongly suspected that the American bumble bee was infected with a virus when European bumble bees were imported into North America to pollinate greenhouse tomatoes. It is also socially parasitized by Bombus variabilis, which itself has declined severely with few recent records showing this interaction

This bumble bee’s common name can be misleading because it is hardly America’s most widespread species. Unfortunately, the geographic distribution of B. pensylvanicus has declined and it is rarely present in the northern reaches of its range. It is still commonly found in the southern parts of its historic distribution from Florida, west to Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico.

[appleannie1]

41. I live in Pennsylvania and for about 3 years until two years ago, I did not see even one bee.

I started letting my oregano go to seed and overgrow my entire herb bed, planted nothing but bee loving flowers and shrubs and planted a couple butterfly bushes. Last year I finally saw a couple bees. This year I saw a lot more a couple butterflies. I still have not seen as many bees as I used to see though.

The only reason I saw butterflies is someone that lives about a quarter mile from me planted milkweed and started buying butterfly eggs, put them in glass gallon jars and when they hatched into caterpillars fed them fresh milkweed leaves and once the butterfly comes out of the chrysalis, releases them.

If we are going to save this planet and the living creatures on it, more people need to go back to using nothing but natural things and stop using chemicals and modified seeds.

[roamer65]

31. It's too bad there wasn't less humans and more bumblebees.

Sigh.

[Pepsidog]

32. Plenty of Stink bugs and Lattern Flies though. No Bees dooms us.

[appleannie1]

34. I believe if people stopped planting GMO seeds and stopped using Roundup,

both birds and bees would stand a chance of recovering. If we lose our entire bee population no matter what seeds are used, the plants will not yield fruits and vegetables.

[geardaddy]

35. We plant annual and perennial pollinator plants

here in Minneapolis. We have many bumblebees and a few monarch butterflies. I think I've seen more bumblebees here in the past few years than I ever did as a kid 40 years ago.

And I'm always glad to see them!

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

38. I am not able to do much but next year I plan on growing flowers

that attract and help bumblebees. I was reading somewhere about this and it concerned me. Bumblebees are not aggressive and are fun to watch as they go from flower to flower. I see plenty of them but then again not near as many as I used to.

My goal for next year is to help Bumblebees and Monarch butterflies.

[Traildogbob]

39. Bumble bee vs carpenter bee

Last edited Thu Oct 14, 2021, 03:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Any entomologist help explain difference.

[jcgoldie]

48. Bumble bees nest in the ground

They are confused frequently because they look similar and buzz a lot but carpenter bees burrow into wood to make their nest thus the name. They also dart around quickly usually in an attempt to scare you off. Neither species is very aggressive and will rarely sting unless you pick one up or step on it.

[Traildogbob]

52. Sorry about auto correct crap

I know carpenters well. A battle every summer on my log sides. I usually have, I assume very many bumbles, all over my blueberry bushes in Blum. So didn’t wanna be hating on the blueberry bees vs my house eaters.

[Faux pas]

51. ...

5 Animals Humans Need For Survival

https://www.thedodo.com/archive/animals-that-humans-need-for-survival

[NutmegYankee]

54. Replaced in most areas by the Eastern Common Bumblebee.

Which is growing in numbers. American prefers open fields, the Eastern Common likes forests and fields.

Think about what the Northeast looked like century ago and what it looks like now and you have your answer without hysterical doom pronouncements.

[Grasswire2]

55. why don't they show a photo of an AMERICAN bumble bee?

I have bumblebees all the time in my flowers. But I don't know if they are the variety this article laments.

[RFCalifornia]

58. Aw shit, first honeybees now this

If the bees die, we die

[sakabatou]

59. Seems we're fucked as a species.