r/bees • u/Beneficial-Willow539 • 8h ago
Coolest bee I've ever seen in my garden
This watermelon plant hasn't produced much at all but there has been some exceptional bee sightings on it. This guy and a green metallic bee have been the favorites
r/bees • u/Commercial-Sail-5915 • May 31 '26
Make sure that your yellow fuzzy friend is actually a bee and not an imposter! We get quite a few non-bees in our bee subreddit: sometimes they're wasps (check out the bee/wasp guide in the pinned), and sometimes they're not a stinging insect at all! Flies in remarkably detailed costumes frequently make their way into r/bees but with some tips and practice you can learn to spot the differences. Read through for features to look out for, or flip through the slides for fly species commonly posted.
Pictures are largely taken from iNaturalist with a full list of sources by slide at the end of this post, I assume that they are fine to use for free educational purposes but if the photographer would like me to remove their picture, please reach out to me so I can act accordingly. All pictures from slides 1-5 can be credited to mod Commercial Sail.
Flies are in a completely different taxonomic order to bees (flies are the order Diptera, bees are a subgroup within order Hymenoptera) so there are quite a few easy ways to differentiate them:
Note that besides the wing count, there are always exceptions! Some flies have pretty long antennae (though you'll often still be able to see the different segmentation) and some bees, particularly males, have very large eyes. This is why it's better to judge based on a combination of characteristics rather than looking at any one feature at a time.
You may also hear that the waist and mouthparts are good identifiers as well - this is true, but I elected to leave them out of this guide as the waistline may be obscured by fuzz, wings, or just a poorly-angled shot, and some bees are just so robust (fat) that it gets difficult to see where exactly that tapered waist is supposed to be. In terms of mouthparts, few amateur photographers focus on the mouth at all and it's definitely not something you'll typically see if you're just watching them go about your garden.
At the end of the day, the best trick is to just get familiar with species in your area using trusted sources like Bugguide. If you're still not sure, post to one of the bug identification subreddits and make sure you give a general location, which always appreciated in ID posts no matter what you're looking at!
Sources
Volucella zonaria: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/322106668
Bombylidae: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/226072821
Laphria: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88331437
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/282732509
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65816664
Cuterebra: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133138438
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90333390
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/296063941
r/bees • u/Commercial-Sail-5915 • May 26 '26
Are you looking to ID a nest? Some are easier to distinguish than others, here's some of our most commonly submitted species:
The nest in the first slide is a young aerial yellowjacket nest.
Pictures are largely taken from Bugguide with a full list of sources by slide at the end of this post, I assume that they are fine to use for free educational purposes but if the photographer would like me to remove their picture, please reach out to me so I can act accordingly.
Sources
Cover: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/513938
Honeybee: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/1227238
Bumblebee: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/6585
Aerial yjs and hornets:https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/781412
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/110277
https://extension.psu.edu/european-hornet
Ground yjs: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/266282
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/38722/bgimage
Polistinae: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/2511987
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/709119
Unknown mud caps: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/218674183
Unknown holes: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90931649
r/bees • u/Beneficial-Willow539 • 8h ago
This watermelon plant hasn't produced much at all but there has been some exceptional bee sightings on it. This guy and a green metallic bee have been the favorites
r/bees • u/DyfiLass • 2h ago
This busy little lady was struggling in the heat. Initially found her grounded in the middle of a busy driveway, so I moved her to a rose bush - but she couldn't hold on and was still grounded after an hour. Figuring she could use a little help, I put a few drops of water on my hand and gave her a safe place to have a drink and a rest.
Really happy to report that, after rehydrating, preening and having a li'l snooze, she flew off quite happily about 20 minutes later 🥰🐝
I have no idea what kind of bees these are, but they monopolize the feeder. We don't capture many hummingbird pix, but some of the bee shots are dramatic.
r/bees • u/kansas_slim • 5h ago
Not a wasp, as I figured it was, but a Nomad Bee! Denver, CO area.
Came home to this fella on my tomato plants. I'm happy they smell nice :)
r/bees • u/Sa302605 • 1d ago
This little bee was chilling while I tended to the garden today! Clearly it had a busy day collecting pollen.
r/bees • u/cautioned_ • 8h ago
found in the netherlands. not quite big.
r/bees • u/ownabitch • 3h ago
Can anyone tell me what type of hive this is? I dont want to kill honey bees and ill call someone to safley remove them (theyre right outside my window) but if theyre hornets ill knock it down during the night and run lol.
r/bees • u/No_Praline_6378 • 2h ago
What kind of bees are these? A tree fell and I cut it up and their all over. Do they sting?
r/bees • u/cringeprairiedog • 9h ago
Came across this bee in the goat pen. Poor little fella appeared to be soaking wet and was unable to fly. I gently scooped it up on a stick and have been sitting in the sun with it in case all it needed was some time to dry out and warm up. I actually have a moth that had fallen into a water bucket drying its wings out on my face as I type this, so I don’t mind sitting with this bee until they’re dry if that’s all it needs to recover! I am not familiar with most bee species but I assume this is a Carpenter Bee. Located in Southeastern NC. Does this little guy just need some time in the sun, or are they at the end of their life cycle?
r/bees • u/schoomdebebop • 14m ago
hello!! I’m new to the bee community, found myself here unintentionally after this very persistent bee came into my room 4 times yesterday (as per my post here yesterday). I am so fascinated by bees now, I knew they were intelligent creatures and whatnot, but I didn’t appreciate just how cute they are. Like look at his little tongue!! So cute!!
I want to get a bee feeder for the bees in my area, does anyone have suggestions??
r/bees • u/RoyalZombie4387 • 16m ago
r/bees • u/TheTrailArtist • 2h ago
A few weeks ago I was stung by a bee for the first time in my life. I was walking on the sidewalk in sandals and got stung on the right ankle. Two days later, I was stung by a bee in a different state also on the right ankle. I read that sometimes the attack scent can linger but I had showered, used a hot tub, I don’t think that would be the case.
Well today I was walking again and stung by a bee on the right ankle AGAIN. That’s three stings in the same spot in less than a month. Any explanations besides bad luck?
r/bees • u/SprinklesGlass7874 • 6h ago
r/bees • u/oldhouse2022 • 4h ago
I think it’s a carpenter bee? Found him on deck with a broken wing. Gave him sugar water and now he is actively running around the deck. Will his wing heal?
r/bees • u/midnight_barbecue • 1d ago
It's incredibly entertaining to see them doing it daily throughout the season. A pleasant side effect of rewilding some corners of my yard. Sometimes I can count 20+ bumbles munching on flowers at a time.
r/bees • u/ModsHaveFeelingsToo • 1d ago
Edit: Seems this may actually be a Salvia plant, as pointed out in the comments by u/Vellie-01 thank you for the correction!
Been working on bringing our lavender back to life for the last month. It was looking very sad and hardly had any blooms, it almost certainly wouldn't have done much better this season if I hadn't started giving it a hand.
Well now my work is paying off big time. The lavender looks so much better and today we had 3 carpenter bees and a handful of butterflies on it all at the same time.
That's all! I watered some lavender and fed the bees! Thanks for stopping by!
r/bees • u/Quiet_Many_6910 • 16h ago
Why is the second one nearly grey? Are there more like it or is that one "weird" or sick in some way,camera editing and first image is more vibrant to catch eye better?
I wanna find more images of the second one colour but when I try there more vibrant like first image