Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a number of common eastern bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) resting on the sedum flowers along my front walkway when I first walk outside in the early morning. As the season turns and the evenings get cooler, bumble bees start to slow down. Bees require a temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit or higher to fly easily without using up all of their nectar stores; even overnight temperatures in the 50s or low 60s will cause them to slow down and find a place to rest.

More often than not, when you find a bumble bee resting in a flower, it’s a male. Males are only produced by the queen in late summer and early fall. Once they emerge from the nest, they do not return. Instead, they spend their short lives feeding on nectar and trying to mate with a reproductive female – their life’s purpose. As a result, they need a place to spend the night, and that place is usually in or on a flower.

Alternatively, a bumble bee you find sleeping in the flowers in the early morning could also be a female forager that stayed out too late, got caught in the cold or dark, and had to find shelter for the evening. As the day warms up she’ll continue looking for pollen to bring back to the nest. 

Whether male or female, one of the unintended consequences of their early morning sluggishness is that they are much easier to photograph than the active flying bumble bees we have all over our yard during the day. And taking the time to photograph the sleepy bumblebees made me realize just how cool sedum blossoms actually are! Check out the photo below and you’ll see what I mean.