09/07/2026
When most people picture a bee, they're usually picturing the honeybee, but she's got a LOT of cousins out there. There are around 20k species of bees in the world and only a handful of them actually make honey! Right here in Minnesota you've probably crossed paths with more than you realize.
-Bumblebees are the big fuzzy ones that bounce from flower to flower and are wonderful pollinators for tubular blooms thanks to their long tongues. They're also the ones you're most likely to catch taking a nap within the petals. Males do not have stingers. Females do have stingers but are normally very docile.
-Carpenter bees look a lot like bumbles but have shiny hairless abdomens and like to nest in wood. These are the ones that can potentially ruin structures if they choose the wrong place to make their home. Like the bumblebee, females sting only if provoked, males are harmless.
-Then there are the tiny sweat bees (sometimes a metallic green) that are drawn to perspiration on a hot day. Rarely aggressive, and won't sting unless provoked.
-Honeybees like ours are social, live in large colonies with a single queen, and store up honey to survive the winter as a group.
Most of those other wild native bees are solitary, don't make honey, and the females often go it alone raising the next generation. However, they're ALL important pollinators and a healthy yard has room for every one of them.
(Pictured: an adorable bumbebee gathering pollen on a Zinnia flower. The bumble-fuzz is my favorite.)
