COMMON BEES OF THE SOUTHERN INTERIOR OF BC

This brochure focuses on the most common bees that observers might see in their gardens or on hiking trails.
Brochure:  Common Bees of the Southern Interior, 2nd edition

Drab reddish-brown honey bees are what most people think of when asked about bees. Or worse, they think of wasps, hornets and yellow jackets and painful stings. In fact, our native bees are  colourful, diverse and rarely sting. Seventy per cent of native bees nest in the ground in tunnels carefully excavated and prepared by each female. The rest are opportunistic cavity nesters. Most bees are solitary, meaning that the female does everything by herself: finding a nesting site, laying her eggs, foraging for food for her eggs and creating chambers to protect her eggs.

Most bees fly only two to four weeks depending on species, weather, and forage. And they fly, at most, the length of a football field looking for food.  Exceptions are bumble bees, honey bees, and a few other semi-social bees.

We have over 500 bee species in British Columbia. Because of the range of ecosystems, (Bunchgrass, Interior Douglas-Fir, and Alpine Tundra) the Southern Interior has a high diversity of bee species.