Bumblebees at Brazos Bend State Park

 While clearing a trail that has been off-limits for the last six years, the clearing crew(fellow volunteers Pete and Bob) came across a next of bumblebees that needed to be removed. I have had no experience trying to move a bumblebee hive but I was game for a try. I suited up in my bee suit and started wading into the bumblebees to try and locate the nest. Note to anybody else that tries this... Bee suit is a must and protect your ankles as bumblebees seem to attack mostly at your ankles and feet. I knew that bumblebee nests are mostly made in the ground among trash or dead piles of wood. In this case, an old mostly rotten log had bumblebees coming from the open end of the log. My thoughts were that the bees were inside the log but when I moved the log, I could see part of a nest in the ground below the log. There were somewhere between 50-100 bumblebees buzzing me as I took a piece of the nest from the ground for show and tell. To save the bees, we drug off the log to a safe area away from trail. Hopefully, the main nest is in that log.  We are counting on the rest of the bees to settle at the new log location. 

 

After disturbing the nest - the air was buzzing with bumblebees.

The part of the nest in the ground below the log. 

 

Piece of the nest that contains pollen in cup like cells. The walls of the cups are made of wax like material similar to beeswax. I did not locate a brood area and suspect that it is inside log.