[NatureNS] bumblebee identity -- was Miner's Marsh-Kentville

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 18:10:55 -0300
From: "Stephen R. Shaw" <srshaw@Dal.Ca>
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Yesterday we visited Mt Uniacke House grounds again ostensibly for  
'gathering', while I spent most of my time 'hunting' in the old  
greenhouse area and on the drumlin, but not finding much.  Apart from  
meadowhawk dragonflies and a few larger species, the only insect that  
was common was a small bumblebee -- seen literally in the 100s.  I  
assumed that it would be the same species as Angus's 25, below,  
feeding on 'jewelweed', but in checking the many Bombus impatiens in  
BugGuide, it doesn't look like a match.

The Mt U bumblebee was decidedly small and had the upper abdomen of  
dark orange with the tip of the abdomen blackish, and would not be  
much more than 10 mm in length.  Of the Bombus group figured on  
BugGuide, it most resembles B. ternarius, reported from Maine, though  
some images there put the length of B. ternarius a good bit longer  
than my estimate.  I took no photos -- is there any hope of guessing  
the ID from this limited description? What about B. centralis?

This species was less interested in goldenrod (everywhere, but some  
flowers now are fading) than in what my daughter says is 'ironweed',  
which I initially assumed would be an alternative name for Angus's  
'jewelweed', but not so.  Jewelweed is apparently Impatiens spp, with  
pretty pink flowers, while the very abundant stuff that these bees  
were visiting does look like the ironweed found on-line, with small  
purple thistle-like heads, Vernonia spp., of a different family.

The only butterflies around in these open areas in ~2 hours of looking  
were Common Wood Nymphs, though these were much less abundant than 2  
weeks ago in the same places.  Quite a few Virginia Ctenuca moths were  
flying late on, and some small syrphids (hoverflies) plus small  
grasshoppers.  I saw a few native wasps and a couple of bees, but only  
a single honeybee. Having largely given up I tried instead sweeping  
grassy vegetation at one spot near the greenhouse, which turned up  
large numbers of jumping bugs, including several thorn-head  
treehoppers and buffalo treehoppers.  So not all insects are down and  
out, or scarce.

For fairy fern ring afficionados (all 3 of us, if that), there are  
actually three fern rings up on the Mt. U drumlin, though the two new  
ones are further up, smaller and less perfect, all sensitive fern.   
The first ring I originally estimated by eye at ~20 feet across, but  
this is way off. I've since surveyed it fairly accurately and it's 30  
feet across and close to perfectly circular.  So something odd is  
going on underground up there.

Steve (Halifax)
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quoting Angus MacLean <cold_mac@hotmail.com>:

> Last evening at MIner's Marsh, I was pleased to find ~25 Bumble Bees  
> on Jewelweed (N. side of marsh). Even more surprising, they were all  
> the commonest BB in our area, Bombus impatiens. So there are pockets  
> of these bees still surviving although in many areas, one can only  
> find a couple.
>
> There was a number of small skippers flying too but never allowed  
> close scrutiny. This morning I tried again & photographed a few.  
> They were all Least Skippers. A few years ago loads of European  
> Skippers could be expected but apparently those are on the decline.  
> (The latter are "imports" from Europe so perhaps not a bad thing).
>
> There are lots of "white" butterflies at the marsh & one would  
> assume they are Cabbage Whites. However a closer look revealed at  
> least half are Mustard Whites ... late for their flight period?
>
> There were few birds. A female P/B Grebe could be heard grunting &  
> Kingfishers are ever present. The water level is too high to invite  
> any shorebirds but perhaps the hot weather will draw down the level  
> enough to entice some of the taller waders.
>
> Angus

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