I swear the bees can hear me. In the middle of the morning today, as a friend and I sat outside at her woodsy home in Southern Quebec near Ottawa, I commented on the various things blooming in the early Spring warmth. I also commented that what was missing was the pleasant buzz of bees. I had been spoiled on a recent trip down to California where I saw plenty of honey bee action in L.A. It is a wee bit colder up here in Canada, but immediately after making my comment, my friend noticed some movement in her line of newly-bloomed crocuses. I hurried over to take a look and indeed, it was a lone bumble bee. She was lingering over individual flowers, so I took a chance and ran indoors to get my crappy camera. I was in luck as I made my return. Even luckier was the fact that the two photos I managed to take both turned out and I present them below. Upon some investigation, I think this is a Bombus huntii. The North American identification diagrams might indicate other possibilities, especially as huntii didn’t seem to bee a species that shows up in my locality, but I ran across a couple of excellent photos that look very much like what I saw. Enjoy!
