Jeff wondered why it was taking me so long to get from the car to the front door. After all, he'd seen me arrive through the window.
Sometimes it really does take me twenty minutes to get from my car to my front door, because something along the way stops me in my tracks, like this little beauty.
Twenty minutes, in this case. But look at him.
Most likely a male bumblebee (Bombus sp.). That pale, fuzzy "white beard" is one clue, and his large eyes are another. Unlike females, males don't collect pollen and lack pollen baskets on their hind legs. Rather than gathering food for the colony, they patrol the landscape in search of queens, often flying set circuits and marking them with pheromones as they go. I think he was sleeping on the job, and my approach woke him up. Sorry, friend.
As for species, I'm leaning toward Common Eastern at first glance, but Brown-belted and Two-spotted are still in the running. I'll take a closer look later.
It's encounters like this that remind me there's always something worth noticing, even on the short walk from the car to the front door. Hard not to stop and admire him, right?
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