Many Wild Bees are Visiting My Backyard

He's coming, pollination will be in progress.

The number of bee species is quite great, it is estimated about thousand different species both in the world and in North America:

- 16,000 species in the world.

- 4,000 species in North America.

Of thousands, I wonder why one species only to produce honey called honey bee with scientific name Apis mellifera.

Another species, bumble bees produced honey as well, but just small amount for their own used only. Hence, the honey can’t be collected by beekeepers for commercial purposes.

Moreover, Honey bees live in collective for years, while wild bees live collective for short period, one season.

Honey bees live in the hives which have honeycomb.

One bee insides the flower and another under leaf.

Honeycomb has multiple purposes:

- housing for brood, included capped larvae, larvae and eggs

- storing pollen, nectar and honey.

Honestly, I do not know differences of honey bees, bumble bees and wild bees. I just saw many bees come to my backyard.

They were abundance in the spring, then the number reduced in the summer. But, bees still appear in the early fall.

They seem to pollinate my fruit plants:

- orange quash,

- satsuma orange

- figs.

- blackberry

- strawberry

The bees also collect pollen and nectar from plant flowers and wild flowers.

It is said that honey bees are outnumber the other bees, hence they are most important of pollinators in nature.

Do you know differences of honey bees, bumble bees and other wild bees?