Bombus vancouverensis
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Bombus vancouverensis, the Vancouver bumblebee, is a common species of eusocial bumblebee of the subgenus Pyrobombus. B. vancouverensis inhabits mountainous regions of western North America, where it has long been considered as a synonym of Bombus bifarius, and essentially all of the literature on bifarius refers instead to vancouverensis. B. vancouverensis has been identified as one of the two species of bumblebee observed to use pheromones in kin recognition. The other is the frigid bumblebee, Bombus frigidus.
Bombus vancouverensis was first described by Ezra Townsend Cresson in the 1878 Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. It is a member of the order Hymenoptera and the family Apidae, which also includes orchid bees, honey bees, and bumblebees. A subspecies, originally named Bombus nearcticus, was named in 1888. B. vancouverensis expresses varying color forms... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kluane National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Jasper National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Vancouver Bumble Bee sighting in Great Bear Rainforest on a given day, based on 81 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 12th most-seen of the 235 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and July–August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Vancouver Bumble Bee in Great Bear Rainforest on a given day, against under 5% in October to March, the lowest months. Those are among Great Bear Rainforest's driest months, with about 140 mm of rain a month against 480 mm in November.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Vancouver 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.
6th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Vancouver Bumble Bee sightings, Great Bear Rainforest ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kluane National Park (Canada, about 40%), Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (United States, about 30%) and Glacier National Park (United States, about 20%).
Same genus: Bombus
The closest relatives of the Vancouver Bumble Bee that you can see in Great Bear Rainforest (genus Bombus, Bumble Bees) are Yellow-Fronted Bumble Bee (about 30%), Sitka Bumble Bee (about 20%) and Black-Tailed Bumble Bee (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Vancouver Bumble Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Great Bear Rainforest (81 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
