Bombus auricomus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Bombus auricomus is a species of bumblebee known by the common name black and gold bumblebee. It is native to eastern North America, including Ontario in Canada and much of the eastern United States, as far west as the Great Plains.
This species creates above-ground nests in grassland and other open habitat types. It feeds at many types of plants, including thistles, prairie clovers, delphiniums, teasels, echinacea, bergamot, penstemons, clovers, and vetches.
This is a fairly large bumblebee; workers and males are about 1.7 to 2.0 cm long, while queens can be up to 2.5 cm in length. This bee was previously thought to be conspecific with the Nevada bumblebee (B. nevadensis), but the two are now considered separate species. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-And-Gold Bumble Bee sighting in Chicago on a given day, based on 193 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 104th most-seen of the 978 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-And-Gold Bumble Bee in Chicago on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-And-Gold 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.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Black-And-Gold Bumble Bee sightings, Chicago ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (United States, about 40%) and Philadelphia (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Bombus
The closest relatives of the Black-And-Gold Bumble Bee that you can see in Chicago (genus Bombus, Bumble Bees) are Common Eastern Bumble Bee (about 30%), Brown-Belted Bumble Bee (about 20%) and Two-Spotted Bumble Bee (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-And-Gold Bumble Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Chicago (193 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.
