A Couple of Bees

Though flower flies, moths, and butterflies are all pollinators, perhaps the classic pollinators are the bees. And in central New Jersey the most commonly seen bees are the Western Honey Bees and the bumble bees, with the Common Eastern Bumble Bee being the most frequently seen bumblebee.

These 2 types of bees are fairly closely related, both residing in the same insect subfamily. Generally speaking you can tell them apart because honeybees tend to be thinner, less hairy, and with a clear distinction between the head and thorax, while bumblebees tend to be rounder, quite hairy, and it's hard to tell where the thorax ends and the head begins.

There is a key difference between the way bees pollinate and the way butterflies and moths pollinate. Butterflies and moths are just looking to drink nectar and only accidentally transport pollen from plant-to-plant. Bees on the other hand will drink nectar but will also purposely transport pollen back to their nest to be eaten, though some of it gets lost when they go flower-to-flower. My impression is that bees are generally the more effective pollinators, though I suspect there's some variation depending on exactly which flower and exactly which insect we're talking about.

Western Honey Bee
June 29, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 211850256, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Common Eastern Bumble Bee?
June 29, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 211850302, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)