On a walk around Round Lake we noticed a queen common eastern bumble bee sitting still on the asphalt path around Round Lake's wetland. It was windy, cloudy, and getting a little chilly with no sunny spots. And with buckthorn and prairie plantings there were no flowers around. So I had her crawl on a piece of paper and she rested in my (warmer) hand and I put her on a Spiderwort plant near two others in a burned section of prairie while we talked with a friend. She was still there after ten minutes not moving so I carried her to lower branches out of the wind to what Plant Net says is a Cockspur Hawthorn, the only plant with lots of flowers in the area. She was trying to forage from both flowers it looked like.

As we walked the trails at Tamarack park I saw a few bumble bees that looked like queens foraging in a variety of what I call beardtongue, all at the top of a hill in a prairie area where there was a lot of it blooming. You can see this red-belted and another bumblebee foraging near each other in one of these pictures.

As we walked the trails at Tamarack park I saw a few bumble bees that looked like queens foraging in a variety of what I call beardtongue, all at the top of a hill in a prairie area where there was a lot of it blooming.