Bees Archives - Wild About Utah

August 4, 2025August 5, 2025

Pollinator Camp: Bees

Blue Orchard Bee, Osmia Lignaria On California Five-Spot Flower Courtesy USDA ARS Jim Cane, Photographer — Blue Orchard Bee, Osmia Lignaria
On California Five-Spot Flower
Courtesy USDA ARS
Jim Cane, Photographer

By Kate Hunter, Leer en español
In late June of this year, we at Stokes Nature Center held our first pollinator camp. In this period, we worked with a local beekeepers, visited the USDA U.S. National Pollinating Insects Collection at Utah State University, and we fed hummingbirds from the palm of our hands. In spite of the short attention spans that summer brings, there were moments of pure uncut interest from the middle school age campers. Here, I’ll describe some bees and I want you to think if these would hold the attention of any teenagers in your life. Images of these bees and many more can be found online at the flikr page of the USGS bee lab, links to this page are online at WildAboutUtah.org and UPR.org

A Fairy Bee, Perdita minima ( Courtesy DiscoverLife.com, Copyright John Ascher, Photographer — A Fairy Bee, (*Perdita minima*)
Copyright John Ascher / Discover Life

When I say fairy bee, what do you think of? Small? Adorned with jewels? The fairy bees of the genus Perdita are a group of very small bees, with the largest of them being just 10 mm long (or the length of two grains of rice put together end to end). The smallest bee on the earth, Perdita minima, or mini fairy bee is just 2mm-the width of a grain of rice. Though they may seem easy to miss, they are numerous and right under our noses. These fairy bees are one of the most common types of bees in desert ecosystems, like that of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah. These bees are other-wordly, sometimes a blonde or light brown or dark with white metallic reflective markings perhaps like a jewel.

What about a blue bee? Do you know much about what pollinates your fruit trees? The Blue Orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, is a shiny blue bee that pollinates many fruit trees here in Utah including apple, apricot, almond, plum, cherry, peach, nectarine, and pear. They’re more efficient than the honeybee when it comes to fruit production per individual and there are great efforts to understand their future as a managed pollinator at the Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research unit here in Logan UT.

Sweat bee (Halictidae) Courtesy USDA ARS, Scott Bauer, Photographer — Sweat bee (Halictidae)
Courtesy USDA ARS, Scott Bauer, Photographer

Here’s my last marvel-the sweat bee. Have you ever noticed a small insect landing on you in the heat of day that might have been black, green, or green up top and striped on the bottom? This might be a sweat bee! This name sweat bee encompasses many types of bees-with 4,500 species in this group of all varieties of shapes, sizes, colors. One of my favorite for its fascinating clashing color combination is the bicolored striped sweat bee, Agapostemon virescens. This sweat bee has a green upper body reminiscent of a wicked green witch with a yellow or white and stripped lower body.

I could go on, as there are 21,000 species of bees each with their own outfits and lifestyles, with Utah being home to an estimated 1,100 species. But for now, I’ll leave you be.

I’m Kate Hunter, Director of Education at Stokes Nature Center, and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Spanish Version: Carlos Ramos, Facilities, Stokes Nature Center https://logannature.org/staff/
Images: Blue Orchard Bee, Courtesy USDA ARS, © Jim Cane, Photographer
A Fairy Bee (Perdita minima), Copyright John Ascher / Discover Life
Sweat bee (Halictidae)
Courtesy USDA ARS, Scott Bauer, Photographer https://aglab.ars.usda.gov/fuel-your-curiosity/insects/buzz-about-bees
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Anderson, Howe, & Wakeman
Text: Kate Hunter & Carlos Ramos, https://logannature.org/staff
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Kate Hunter https://wildaboututah.org/author/kate-hunter/
Wild About Utah Pieces by Carlos Ramos https://wildaboututah.org/author/carlos-ramos/

Summer Camps, Stokes Nature Center, https://logannature.org/camps

USGS Bee Lab Flickr Account, https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/

USU Insect Collections including Bees (Hymenoptera), https://artsci.usu.edu/biology/research/insect-holdings/

Cane, James H., Gardening and Landscaping Practices for Nesting Native Bees, USU Extension/USDA ARS, May 2015, https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20800500/gardland-nativebees.pdf

Cane, James H., Gardening for Native Bees in Utah and Beyond, USU Extension/USDA ARS, January 2013, https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20800500/Gardening.pdf

Pollinating Insect-Biology, Management, Systematics Research: Logan, UT, (USDA Bee Lab, Logan UT), USDA ARS, US Department of the Interior, https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/pollinating-insect-biology-management-systematics-research/

August 4, 2025August 5, 2025

Sobre las abejas y el ser abeja

Por Kate Hunter, Read in English
Estudio las abejas. Las he observado, capturado, diseccionado, registrado y he enseñado sobre ellas.

A finales de junio, en Stokes Nature Center impartimos un campamento de polinizadores durante dos días. En ese tiempo, ayudamos a un apicultor local a agregar alzas para miel a sus colmenas, visitamos la Colección Nacional de Insectos Polinizadores de EE. UU. en la Universidad Estatal de Utah y alimentamos colibríes desde la palma de nuestras manos. A pesar de la corta capacidad de atención que trae el verano, hubo momentos de puro e intenso interés por parte de los campistas de secundaria. Voy a describir algunas abejas y quiero que pienses si estas llamarían la atención de los adolescentes en tu vida. Algunas Imágenes de estas abejas y muchas más se pueden contrarlas en línea en la página de flikr del laboratorio de abejas del USGS; los enlaces a esta página están en Wild About Utah.

Cuando digo abeja hada, ¿qué te viene a la mente?

¿Pequeña?

¿Adornada con joyas o con brillo?

Las abejas hada del género Perdita son un grupo de abejas muy pequeñas, siendo la más grande de ellas de solo 10 mm de largo (o la longitud de dos granos de arroz juntos).

La abeja más pequeña del mundo, Perdita minima, o mini abeja hada, mide apenas 2 mm, lo que equivale al ancho de un grano de arroz.

Aunque parezcan fáciles de pasar por alto, son numerosas y están justo bajo nuestras narices. Estas abejas hada son uno de los tipos más comunes de abejas en los ecosistemas desérticos, como el Monumento Nacional Grand Staircase Escalante en el sur de Utah. Estas abejas parecen de otro mundo, a veces rubias o marrón claro, u oscuras con marcas blancas metálicas reflectantes, tal vez como una joya.

¿Y qué tal una abeja azul?

¿Sabes qué poliniza tus árboles frutales?

La abeja azul de los huertos, Osmia lignaria, es una abeja azul brillante que poliniza muchos árboles frutales aquí en Utah, incluyendo manzano, albaricoquero, almendro, ciruelo, cerezo, melocotonero, nectarino y peral. Son más eficientes que la abeja melífera cuando
se trata de producción de fruta por abeja individual y hay grandes esfuerzos para entender su futuro como polinizador manejado en la unidad de Investigación de Biología, Manejo y Sistemática de Insectos Polinizadores aquí en Logan, Utah.

Aquí va mi última maravilla: la abeja del sudor. ¿Alguna vez has notado un pequeño insecto
posarse sobre ti en el calor del día que podría haber sido negro, verde o verde en la parte
superior y rayado en la parte inferior?

¡Podría ser una abeja del sudor! Este nombre abarca muchos tipos de abejas: hay 4,500 especies en este grupo, de toda variedad de formas, tamaños y colores. Una de mis favoritas por su fascinante combinación de colores es la abeja del sudor rayada bicolor, Agapostemon virescens. Esta abeja tiene la parte superior del cuerpo verde, similar a una bruja verde malvada, y la parte inferior amarilla o blanca y rayada.

Podría seguir, ya que existen 21,000 especies de abejas, cada una con su propio atuendo y estilo de vida, y Utah alberga unas 1,100 especies. Pero por ahora, te dejaré en paz.

Y recuerda..Las mejores cosechas son aquellas en las que nuestro apoyo inconcicional vuela a nuestro alrededor, no olvides ver, escuchar y entender estas pequeñas criaturas que nos ayudan a tener un mundo mejor.

Soy Carlos Ramos y estoy apasionado por Utah.

Créditos:

Versión en español: Carlos Ramos, Facilities, Stokes Nature Center https://logannature.org/staff/
Imágenes: Abeja azul de huerto, cortesía del USDA ARS, © Jim Cane, fotógrafo
Abeja hada (Perdita minima), derechos de autor John Ascher / Discover Life
Abeja sudorosa (Halictidae)
Cortesía del USDA ARS, Scott Bauer, fotógrafo https://aglab.ars.usda.gov/fuel-your-curiosity/insects/buzz-about-bees
Audio destacado: Cortesía y derechos de autor Anderson, Howe y Wakeman
Texto: Kate Hunter y Carlos Ramos, https://logannature.org/staff
Lectura adicional: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Lectura adicional

Artículos “Wild About Utah” por Kate Hunter https://wildaboututah.org/author/kate-hunter/
Artículos “Wild About Utah” por Carlos Ramos https://wildaboututah.org/author/carlos-ramos/
Campamentos de verano, Stokes Nature Center, https://logannature.org/camps
Cuenta de Flickr del Laboratorio de Abejas del USGS, https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/
Colecciones de insectos de USU, incluyendo abejas (Hymenoptera), https://artsci.usu.edu/biology/research/insect-holdings/
Cane, James H., Prácticas de jardinería y paisajismo para la anidación de abejas nativas, USU Extension/USDA ARS, mayo 2015, https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20800500/gardland-nativebees.pdf
Cane, James H., Jardinería para abejas nativas en Utah y más allá, USU Extension/USDA ARS, enero 2013, https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20800500/Gardening.pdf
Investigación sobre biología, manejo y sistemática de insectos polinizadores: Logan, UT, (Laboratorio de Abejas del USDA en Logan, UT), USDA ARS, Departamento del Interior de EE. UU., https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/logan-ut/pollinating-insect-biology-management-systematics-research/

September 2, 2024July 4, 2025

Cuckoo Bees

Indiscriminate Cuckoo bee Courtesy & © Mark Brunson, Photographer — Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bee
Courtesy & © Mark Brunson, Photographer

Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bee
Courtesy & © Mark Brunson, Photographer

I’d like to tell you a crime story. At least, it would be a crime story if told from a human perspective. But is it still a crime story if it’s about the natural world? I’ll tell it and then let you decide for yourself.

First let me set the stage: Not long ago I was hiking in Northern Utah’s Bear River Range. It was the height of wildflower season, and I was enjoying the colorful variety of blossoms along the trail. I stopped to admire a tall, showy plant with dozens of purplish-green blossoms: Frasera speciosa, commonly known as monument plant or green gentian. It’s often seen near the top of Logan Canyon, but what struck me about this particular monument plant was that it was full of bumble bees.

I knew that a Utah-based conservation science organization, Sageland Collaborative, is asking community volunteers to help them measure bumble bee diversity in the state, so I took out my phone and snapped a few photos. Later I uploaded the best photos into an app called iNaturalist so they’d end up in the Utah Pollinator Pursuit database maintained by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources with Sageland’s help. Then I waited to learn what species of bumble bee I’d seen. The answer came back: indiscriminate cuckoo bumble bee. I thought: What an unusual name. I needed to know more.

It turns out “indiscriminate” simply means that, unlike many native bees that are particular about what they eat, this species doesn’t much care where it gets its nectar. As for “cuckoo”? Like the birds they’re named after, these bumble bees are thieves.

Or to say it more scientifically: these bumble bees are kleptoparasites. Parasites – animals that take resources they need from other species to the detriment of those species – and “klepto,” as in stealing. Like cuckoos or cowbirds, they lay their eggs in the nests of other bumble bee species, letting the workers from the host species do the work of raising them.

Here’s where our crime story gets even more sinister. When a cuckoo bumble bee queen finds a suitable nest to rob – one with a good-sized group of workers to raise the bee larvae, but not so many workers that they can easily protect their queen – she kills the host queen and becomes part of the colony, laying her alien eggs for the host workers to feed.

Cuckoo bumble bees don’t need their own workers, so they’re less often seen on wildflowers. In fact, there’s a good chance that some of the other bumble bees on my monument plant – the ones I didn’t get a picture of – were members of the host species. They also don’t need to take pollen back to a nest of their own, so they don’t have those “pollen baskets” we often see on the hind legs of female bumble bees.

But they do move pollen from flower to flower when it sticks to their bodies as they feed. In other words, they do play a role in sustaining the wildflowers we enjoy every summer. So is this really a crime story? Or is it just another example of the amazing diversity of behaviors found in nature? While you’re deciding about that for yourselves, I hope you get a chance to enjoy watching Utah’s various kinds of bumble bees as they do their all-important work.

I’m Mark Brunson, and I’m wild about Utah’s native bees.

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright Mark Brunson, Photographer
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections and J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin. https://upr.org/
Text: Mark Brunson, https://www.usu.edu/experts/profile/mark-brunson/
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah pieces authored by Mark Brunson

Sheffield, Cory S., Cuckoo bees, Epeoloides pilosula, The Xerces Society, https://www.xerces.org/endangered-species/species-profiles/at-risk-bees/cuckoo-bees

Smale, Parker, Understanding cuckoo bumble bees: terrors or treasures?, Wildlife Preservation Canada, February 29, 2024, https://wildlifepreservation.ca/blog/understanding-cuckoo-bumble-bees-terrors-or-treasures/

Barth, Amanda, The Unique Lives of Cuckoo Bees, Sageland Collaborative, July 25, 2024, https://sagelandcollaborative.org/blog/2024/7/25/the-unique-lives-of-cuckoo-bees

August 12, 2019December 6, 2020

Discovering Honeybees

I was a bit surprised when I met a local beekeeper who insisted she’d never eat any honey except that produced by bees in the mountains above Cache Valley. It made sense that the taste of honey would be determined by the flowers where the bees collected nectar and pollen. It turns out the Forest Service issues permits to local beekeepers to put hives around Tony Grove

Wanting to know more, I dropped into the Honeyland store in Cache Valley and was soon mesmerized by the active cut-away hive on display. It was a teacher’s dream come true – hundreds of bees – all diligently on task. Wide-eyed, I watched as a bee flew in at the bottom of the screen through a tunnel under the window looking very much like a bike rider with two full paniers She deposited the full sacks of pollen and then she began to dance. This took me quickly to the internet to learn more.. The bees dance is called a “waggle dance” – a straight line calibrated to communicate how far away the food source is, and a circular return arc to orient the path to the food. The waggle dancing bee can direct her sisters to a food source up to five miles away.

It takes 550 worker bees visiting 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey.

Top speed for a bee is 15 mph.

Each honey bee makes one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

I soon returned to the store’s cut away hive and finally found the queen – a bit tricky as she looks like all the others except she’s one and a half times bigger. I watched as she dipped her tail into one hexagonal cell after another. On a good day a queen will lay 2,000 eggs.

Busy, busy bees working together to set aside enough honey to feed themselves during the winter.

The poet Dick Paetzke once called honey “the soul of a field of flowers”

Mountain honey looks and tastes a little different than honey made by bees pollinating Cache Valley alfalfa. Both are incredibly delicious.
Aristotle got it right: “Honey is the nectar of the gods.”

This is Mary Heers and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy & Copyright © Mary Heers
Text: Mary Heers

Additional Reading

https://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/

Burlew, Rusty, Honeybee Suite, https://honeybeesuite.com/

Honeybee, National Geographic Kids, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/h/honeybee/

About The Honeybee, American Beekeeping Federation, https://www.abfnet.org/page/PollinatorFacts

Utah Beekeepers Association, https://www.utahbeekeepers.com/

Moab Bee Inspired Gardens, Utah State University, https://beeinspired.usu.edu/about/

Bee Fest 2020, Sponsored by Catalyst Magazine and Utah Museum of Natural History, Recorded Facebook Livestream: https://www.facebook.com/events/2719162278365095/?post_id=2757236484557674&view=permalink SLC Bee Fest Homepage: https://slcbeefest.com/?fbclid=IwAR3xJ4E-WMNm5hizCKiajsmu0brmG1kMKEwgS0IcWij0RwpjLYTdOu4bODs