Bombus ternarius
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Bombus ternarius, commonly known as the orange-belted bumblebee or tricolored bumblebee, is a yellow, orange and black bumblebee. It is a ground-nesting social insect whose colony cycle lasts only one season, common throughout the northeastern United States and much of Canada. The orange-belted bumblebee forages on Rubus, goldenrods, Vaccinium, and milkweeds found throughout the colony's range. Like many other members of the genus, Bombus ternarius exhibits complex social structure with a reproductive queen caste and a multitude of sister workers with labor such as foraging, nursing, and nest maintenance divided among the subordinates.
B. ternarius is a small, fairly slender bumblebee. The queen is 17–19 mm (0.67–0.75 in) long and the breadth of the abdomen is 8.5–9 mm (0.33–0.35 in). The workers are 8–13 mm (0.31–0.51 in), and the drones are 9.5–13 mm (0.37–0.51 in) in length. Both the worker and the drone have abdomens about 4.5–5.5 mm (0.18–0.22 in) in breadth.
The queen and workers have black heads, with a few pale yellow hairs. The anterior and posterior thorax and the first and fourth abdominal segments are yellow, abdominal segments 2 to 3 are orange, and the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Voyageurs National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Riding Mountain National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Gros Morne National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tricolored Bumble Bee sighting in Calgary on a given day, based on 173 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 19th most-seen of the 256 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Tricolored Bumble Bee in Calgary on a given day, against under 5% in November to April, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tricolored Bumble Bee sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Tricolored Bumble Bee sightings, Calgary ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Edmonton (Canada, about 20%).
Same genus: Bombus
The closest relatives of the Tricolored Bumble Bee that you can see in Calgary (genus Bombus, Bumble Bees) are Hunt's Bumble Bee (about 30%), Red-Belted Bumble Bee (about 20%) and Perplexing Bumble Bee (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tricolored Bumble Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Calgary (173 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
