By Master Naturalist and JDCF volunteer, Pam Johnson

In 2017 the Rusty Patched Bumblebee was placed on the Federally Endangered Species List. In 2020-2022 a group of volunteers sponsored by JDCF went out weekly during the summary to survey and see if the Rusty Patched Bumblebee could be found on JDCF’s Wapello Reserve. This is a program sponsored by USFWS to track the Rusty Patched BB. As part of the project, we documented all the bumblebee species that we could identify. In 2021 we found the Rusty Patched BB in late July and August. That was the only year we found them. In 2023-2024 we surveyed Hanley Savanna Prairie and found none.

In 2025 JDCF decided to survey again and August 4, 2025 we found 8 Rusty Patched BB (Bombus affinis)on three species of plants blooming, Beebalm, Jo Pye Weed and Culvers Root. There were so many Bumblebees we couldn’t identify them all but did find the following species in abundance: Black and Gold (B. auricomus), Brown-belted (B. griseocollis), Two-spotted (B. bimaculatus), Common Eastern (B. impatiens). Only found 1 each of Golden Northern (B. fervidus), and American (B. pensylvanicus) and the 8 Rusty patched. What a wonderful day!

Numerous people with native landscaping or prairies are seeing the Rusty Patched BB this year in Jo Daviess County and neighboring counties.  Bumblebees are attracted to the native plants that they evolved with. You can find them right now around their favorites: Beebalm and Jo Pye Weed. These can grow in vacant lots and the edge of woods as well as prairies.  A good site for topics concerning Bumblebees and identification key for Illinois: Bumble Bees of Illinois (By Color Group), BeeSpotter, University of Illinois. You can take pictures of the head, back and side and post on iNaturalist to get the possible species.  Beespotter.com is another site to enter your pictures. It is hosted by the University of Illinois Entomology Department and they will verify your picture.  If you would like to join the survey team on August 18th let  email Hillary Holt, JDCF Director of Education and Outreach, who will be there to assist in identification. The meeting time is 9AM at Wapello Preserve, 8642 IL RT 84 S, Hanover, IL.

According to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the threats to bumblebees include “habitat loss, pesticide use, pathogene from managed pollinators, competition with non-native bees, and climate change.” All of that is a lot for a bumblebee to adjust to. So, why are we seeing so many BBs this year versus last year? It is a complicated question. The simple answer is that weather plays a big role in bumblebees queens finding favorable conditions for producing new colonies. Last year in our area it was a very wet spring and the pollen was knocked off the flowers by the heavy rains This year our rains have occurred in our area but not with the consistency and force of last year. The other thing to note is the scarcity of honeybees this year. We have been asked in our surveys to rank the ratio of honeybees to bumblebees. This year it is <5% honeybees to bumblebees. In the past surveys we saw 35-50%. The honeybees can outcompete bumblebees for food sources. Reference: Strategies for Stewards: from woods to prairies : Honeybee Hives Threaten Rare Bumblebees At Somme

Why are there fewer Rusty Patched BB than other bees. Not all bumblebees are anatomically the same. Rusty Patched have shorter tongues as do the Southern Plains BB (B. fraternus). This allows them to nectar different shaped flowers so that they aren’t all competing for the same plant species. Science has a lot more studies to do to answer this question.
Why is the Rusty Patch important? If you compare one species loss to a plane losing a bolt. The plane might not crash with the loss of one bolt, but if bolts keep disappearing, the plane will eventually fall out of the sky. If you can save one species from extinction by knowing the causes of their decline, you can help the rest of the species as well. Reference: Illinois nature lovers and scientists warn of population declines among native bees and other pollinators