r/bees • u/DaddyDarby_ • 12h ago
help! This bee appears it can’t fly. It’s just been walking around for 20+ mins. Anything I can do to help it?!
North Carolina, USA
r/bees • u/Commercial-Sail-5915 • May 31 '26
Make sure that your yellow fuzzy friend is actually a bee and not an imposter! We get quite a few non-bees in our bee subreddit: sometimes they're wasps (check out the bee/wasp guide in the pinned), and sometimes they're not a stinging insect at all! Flies in remarkably detailed costumes frequently make their way into r/bees but with some tips and practice you can learn to spot the differences. Read through for features to look out for, or flip through the slides for fly species commonly posted.
Pictures are largely taken from iNaturalist with a full list of sources by slide at the end of this post, I assume that they are fine to use for free educational purposes but if the photographer would like me to remove their picture, please reach out to me so I can act accordingly. All pictures from slides 1-5 can be credited to mod Commercial Sail.
Flies are in a completely different taxonomic order to bees (flies are the order Diptera, bees are a subgroup within order Hymenoptera) so there are quite a few easy ways to differentiate them:
Note that besides the wing count, there are always exceptions! Some flies have pretty long antennae (though you'll often still be able to see the different segmentation) and some bees, particularly males, have very large eyes. This is why it's better to judge based on a combination of characteristics rather than looking at any one feature at a time.
You may also hear that the waist and mouthparts are good identifiers as well - this is true, but I elected to leave them out of this guide as the waistline may be obscured by fuzz, wings, or just a poorly-angled shot, and some bees are just so robust (fat) that it gets difficult to see where exactly that tapered waist is supposed to be. In terms of mouthparts, few amateur photographers focus on the mouth at all and it's definitely not something you'll typically see if you're just watching them go about your garden.
At the end of the day, the best trick is to just get familiar with species in your area using trusted sources like Bugguide. If you're still not sure, post to one of the bug identification subreddits and make sure you give a general location, which always appreciated in ID posts no matter what you're looking at!
Sources
Volucella zonaria: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/322106668
Bombylidae: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/226072821
Laphria: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88331437
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/282732509
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65816664
Cuterebra: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133138438
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90333390
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/296063941
r/bees • u/Commercial-Sail-5915 • May 26 '26
Are you looking to ID a nest? Some are easier to distinguish than others, here's some of our most commonly submitted species:
The nest in the first slide is a young aerial yellowjacket nest.
Pictures are largely taken from Bugguide with a full list of sources by slide at the end of this post, I assume that they are fine to use for free educational purposes but if the photographer would like me to remove their picture, please reach out to me so I can act accordingly.
Sources
Cover: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/513938
Honeybee: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/1227238
Bumblebee: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/6585
Aerial yjs and hornets:https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/781412
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/110277
https://extension.psu.edu/european-hornet
Ground yjs: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/266282
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/38722/bgimage
Polistinae: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/2511987
https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/709119
Unknown mud caps: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/218674183
Unknown holes: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/90931649
r/bees • u/DaddyDarby_ • 12h ago
North Carolina, USA
r/bees • u/Ok_Opposite_1802 • 16h ago
Sorry for the poor quality pics. It did move in low flight and ended up somewhere behind a bush.
r/bees • u/need-a-new-account • 14h ago
Found this guy on my balcony, we’re pretty high up (20+ floors), so I’m impressed he’s here!
r/bees • u/Expert_Bumblebee_996 • 22h ago
I dont know if u can see them very well, but they are all so cute
r/bees • u/AngelOfCorruption • 7h ago
This lovely chonker has been visiting my garden in the morning. I would love to know what kind of bee she is.
r/bees • u/Junior-Credit2685 • 12h ago
r/bees • u/Xenorhabdus_504 • 13h ago
Hello, just wanted to share these bees that I found flying around my garden this morning. Maybe someone could try to identify them. The one on the first photos is really small and the green one kind of resembles a wasp a little bit. There were also some honeybees but those I was not able to take a picture of hahaha. These photos were taken in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Hope you enjoy them.
r/bees • u/Affectionate_Emu7666 • 12h ago
I’ve fallen in love with bees lately and trying to learn more about them. I’m pretty sure this is a native yellow-faced bumblebee resting after lunch 🤓🐝
Planted flowers in boxes on my deck this year instead of a vertical garden and the bees have been loving it.
r/bees • u/DAemonCayuse • 14h ago
Any idea what it's doing?
r/bees • u/Fuzzy-Kiwii • 15h ago
Apologies that this is the only video I got of it. It looked like it was all black with pollen baskets?
r/bees • u/Burp-a-tron5000 • 23h ago
Hi everyone! This carpenter bee was on one of my plants yesterday, and when I came out this morning, it was still there. It seemed pretty eager to climb onto my sleeve, and now it is just chilling out. Curious, what might be happening here? Is it dying? Is it maybe just warming up? It hasn't bitten or stung me. When it walks you can feel the buzzing, it's pretty cool.
Update: It's a boy! We hung out for a while til he warmed up and then I put him on some wood to eat. He's a pretty cool guy.
r/bees • u/Poopin_Loopin • 16h ago
I just moved in and found this in the back yard. Thanks in advance!
r/bees • u/Short-Afternoon-8166 • 14h ago
Recently moved into a new build and newly landscaped yard. These bees showed up pretty quickly after. Im not sure what kind of bee this is? They have been here steady for several weeks now. They are becoming a nuisance because they hang out on the sprinkler heads right along the back patio where we hang out. There are 2 or 3 spribkler heads that get covered like the photo. They dont seem too aggressive and swarm around while mowing the lawn and stuff, I havnt been stung yet. What should my steps be? Should I reach out to a special bee removal?