Earlier in June, I posted some photos of a few bees I found in the yard. Each and every time I was out trying to get photos of any bees at all, it seemed the only cooperative ones were the little bees. Small ones, sweat bees, Agapostemon species, Lasioglossum, even what I think is a Melissodes, and now and then a mystery bumblebee.
And they were fine. I enjoy little bees. The shiny greens, the yellow hairs, the brilliant eyes. They have a charisma to them that makes them almost adorable, and when I manage to get a good image of one, it’s a real thrill. But each and every time I was out there, I also encountered two much larger bees, bumblebees: a shiny-smooth one in the genus Xylocopa, which I still don’t have good photos of, and several hairy yellow-faced yellow-butted bumbles in Bombus, most likely Bombus vosnesenskii.
I still don’t have positive ID on almost any of them–native bees are difficult to ID, and photos can only take you so far, even with the help of the experts over at bugguide.net–but I do have enough images for a little photo gallery.
So, here is a little photo gallery of bumblebees from my Central California yard in mid- to late June 2026. Enjoy!
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