What Kind of Bee is This? While photographing flowers yesterday there were all sorts of honey bees flying around. But this one was much bigger and of course colored much differently.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

While photographing flowers yesterday there were all sorts of honey bees flying around. But this one was much bigger and of course colored much differently. Surely someone can identify it for those of us who have no idea.

Dennis

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tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

We always called them Bumble Bees but don't know the official name.
Very nice shots though.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Nice shots. Tri-colored bumble bee I think (Bombus ternarius).

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

dennis2146 wrote:

While photographing flowers yesterday there were all sorts of honey bees flying around. But this one was much bigger and of course colored much differently. Surely someone can identify it for those of us who have no idea.

Dennis

Great photo! A couple of weeks ago, I saw one just like that on my neighbor's flowers. It was the first one I had seen. Do you know what it is?

boomboom Loc: Stow, Ohio

dennis2146 wrote:

While photographing flowers yesterday there were all sorts of honey bees flying around. But this one was much bigger and of course colored much differently. Surely someone can identify it for those of us who have no idea.

Dennis

I believe it is called a Hunt's Bumble Bee. That's my guess anyway.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Just called them Bumble Bees. Really nice shots

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

boomboom wrote:

I believe it is called a Hunt's Bumble Bee. That's my guess anyway.

I think you are right. I just noticed that Dennis is in Idaho. More likely Hunt's than Tri-color out there. Pretty similar.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

tradio wrote:

We always called them Bumble Bees but don't know the official name.
Very nice shots though.

Thank you tradio. We called them bumble bees when I was a kid but those bees did not have the red stripes on its back as this one does. About the same size though.

Dennis

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Blenheim Orange wrote:

Nice shots. Tri-colored bumble bee I think (Bombus ternarius).

Thank you very much Blenheim Orange for a proper sounding name so far.

Dennis

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

flyboy61 wrote:

Great photo! A couple of weeks ago, I saw one just like that on my neighbor's flowers. It was the first one I had seen. Do you know what it is?

Thank you very much flyboy61 for your comment. I have no idea but have been given a couple of answers in the thread prior to this, tri colored bumble bee, Hunt's Bumble Bee are two of the suggested names. I just looked up Hunt's Bumble Bee and it does appear to be the winner. Thank you boom boom and also Blenheim Orange. Of course thanks to you all who stopped by take a look and comment.

Dennis

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Curmudgeon wrote:

Just called them Bumble Bees. Really nice shots

Thank you Jack. That works for me too.

Dennis

Mrpicasso Loc: CA

dennis2146 wrote:

...Surely someone can identify it for those of us who have no idea.

Dennis

For future identification questions, you can try iNaturalist at https://www.inaturalist.org where, if it doesn't suggest a clear identification, within a few days one of the other participants will propose an alternative identification or agree with the one you selected.
Also, I have found that the Preview app on my Mac will often provide a correct identity for the subject in a photo when the "circle i" info icon at the top shows stars (see attached screen shot of the bee image when I opened it in Preview.) An icon appears over the subject that clicking on opens an info window. I only learned about this recently and it has helped a lot with identifying nature subjects. It also does a great job of identifying iconic structures in travel photos.

boomboom Loc: Stow, Ohio

Blenheim Orange wrote:

I think you are right. I just noticed that Dennis is in Idaho. More likely Hunt's than Tri-color out there. Pretty similar.

I'm not an expert so you could be right. I have an app that identifies insects, but they have been known to be wrong. Bumble Bee is good enough for me. 😁

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

dennis2146 wrote:

While photographing flowers yesterday there were all sorts of honey bees flying around. But this one was much bigger and of course colored much differently. Surely someone can identify it for those of us who have no idea.

Dennis

Bumble bee. Good shot Dennis.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Mrpicasso wrote:

For future identification questions, you can try i... (show quote)

Thank you very much for some great information. I will try it on my Mac. But consider, if I already know this stuff then how can I give our resident experts a chance to show their stuff, their infinite knowledge to the rest of us?

I am glad you stopped by,

Dennis