This time of year, it’s not unusual for bees to ruin your picnic. Except the bugs landing on your potato salad likely aren’t bees at all. Many people have trouble telling the difference between bees and other stinging, flying insects.
Meghan Milbrath coordinates the Michigan Pollinator Initiative at Michigan State University. She says her department gets a lot of phone calls about so-called bees this time of year.
How To Tell If It's A Bee
Milbrath says the easiest way to tell is that bees are usually fuzzy and wider. Hornets and wasps usually are shiny and narrower - they're also more likely to be interested in your food.
While hornets and wasps eat many different things, Milbrath says bees get all of their diet from flowers.
Why Yellow Jackets Are Ornery This Time Of Year
Milbrath says there are a couple of different species that might have the common name "yellow jacket" - but generally speaking they are predatory wasps that eat insects. A yellow jacket colony starts with just the queen, but it can grow very quickly in late summer. Meanwhile, Milbrath says food sources start to go down and yellow jackets have to compete for food.
In short, Milbrath says there are more yellow jackets this time of year in general and they're getting hungry - which means they're more likely to hover around your lunch.
Is That A Bee Hive?
Honey bees are not actually native to North America. They were brought here from Europe. These are the kinds of bees you'll see in honeycombed hives. Those hives are usually in trees, but can migrate elsewhere - like the side of your house. Milbrath says if you have an unwanted bee hive or swarm, it's best to call a beekeeper to remove them safely.
A hornet or wasp nest is often gray and papery, perhaps along the eaves of your house.
Native bee dwellings are a bit more creative. There are about 4,000 different species of bees that are native to North America. Milbrath says these bees tend to live more solitary lives - either alone or with just a few other bees. They might live in a hole in the ground or a hollowed out plant - and they can make their nests out of a hodgepodge of things. That could be mud, plants, or even a mouse's nest.
Milbrath says if you still don't know what kind of nest it is, take a picture and send it to a beekeeper. She says hornets and wasps nests often die off in winter, but a bee colony can live there for a long time.
Bee, Wasp - Who Cares?
If you're worried about being stung, you might reach for a fly swatter rather than find out what kind of insect you're dealing with. But Milbrath says it's best for you to know - both for your safety and that of the insect.
A bee can only sting you once and then the bee dies. A yellow jacket, however, can sting multiple times and still live to do it again. Milbrath says you also may be allergic to one type of stinging insect, but not another. She says its comforting to know what insect might be a risk to you and what won't.
"A bee that's out foraging has no interest in you or your food or anything, " says Milbrath. "It just wants to collect some food and go home."
Milbrath says wasps, hornets, and bees all have their purpose in an ecosystem - and you especially don't want to kill a bee. Bees pollinate our crops and plants. They're also vulnerable right now with issues like Colony Collapse Disorder becoming more common.
