[Pollinator] Value of bumble bees and how to deal with nests

[Peter Bernhardt]

Dear Stephen:

I understand that some bumblebee species are more aggressive than others.
 Some are "pussycats" but others get cranky around the time of year when
the new queens are developing and emerging.  At that time some workers will
attack when you come to close to the nest.  In the east, the cranky periods
occur from late July to early September.  I've had this misfortunate twice.
 You may need a copy of "Bumblebees of North America" by Thorp.  It's easy
to use and you can find out whether you have pussycats or high school
french teachers (sorry, flashbacks).  Go to the following link and see if
this is good for you or your school library.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10219.html

Peter Bernhardt


On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 11:36 AM, Stephen Pryor <sjpryor at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hello members,
>
> I am a researcher in the San Luis Obispo area of California and I've been
> called out to a school lawn that has three *very*healthy bumblebee (*B.
> vosnesenskii*) colonies nesting in gopher borrows in the lawn where kids
> play.
>
> The lead teacher does not want to have the colonies sprayed, but is caught
> between her concern for the bees and the parents concern for the their kids
> being stung.
>
> I have roped off the most active colonies and told the teachers to have
> the kids stay a distance away. I've also been relocating the queens
> currently emerging to a rural site nearby that also has many bumblebees
> colonies and wild flowers, hopefully they will still mate and start their
> own colonies.
>
> Does anyone have any sage advice to best avoid stings. Also could you
> forward me papers in laypersons terms that explain the value and importance
> of bumblebees as well as the peril that bumblebees are in nationwide and
> worldwide.  Links would also be helpful.  We want to avoid the exterminator.
>
> Thanks for any help you can offer.
>
> Stephen Pryor
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pollinator mailing list
> Pollinator at lists.sonic.net
> https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/pollinator
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20140527/874b2cca/attachment-0001.html>