Bombus sitkensis
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Bombus sitkensis, the Sitka bumblebee, is a species of bumblebee common in western North America from Alaska to California. The Sitka bumblebee has an oblong head with a medium-length proboscis. The females (queens and workers) have black and yellow hairs intermixed on the face and forward part of the thorax and a black patch in the middle of the thorax, while their sides are yellowish. Terga (abdominal segments) 1 and 2 are yellow, and 3 and 4 black, the latter with a yellow posterior rim. The two last terga are brownish-red. The male has the face and forward parts of the thorax yellow, and only the posterior parts are darker (black and yellow intermixed). On the abdomen terga 1 and 2 are yellow, and terga 3 to 5 yellow on the anterior part, black on the posterior. The tail (terga 6 to 7) is brownish-red.
The species is a common bumblebee found in the western North America from Alaska and British Columbia, and Washington, to northern Idaho, western Montana, and the coastal parts of California. The Sitka bumblebee has experienced mild population declines in parks in California due to competition with the yellow-faced bumblebee (B. vosnesenskii) for... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sitka Bumble Bee sighting in Olympic National Park on a given day, based on 31 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 207 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.
March and May–August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sitka Bumble Bee in Olympic National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and September–February, the lowest months. Those are among Olympic National Park's driest months, with about 95 mm of rain a month against 370 mm in November.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sitka 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.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Sitka Bumble Bee sightings, Olympic National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Great Bear Rainforest (Canada, about 20%), Pacific Rim National Park Reserve (Canada, about 20%) and Redwood National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Bombus
The closest relatives of the Sitka Bumble Bee that you can see in Olympic National Park (genus Bombus, Bumble Bees) are Black-Tailed Bumble Bee (about 20%), Fuzzy-Horned Bumble Bee (about 10%) and Yellow-Fronted Bumble Bee (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sitka Bumble Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Olympic National Park (31 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.
