BUMBLE BEE

  • In spring, the Queen Bumble Bee wakes up all by herself to find a nest and lay eggs. This is how she starts a brand-new family!
  • The Queen is easy to spot because she is BIG! She can be about the size of a quarter.
  • Instead of hanging hives, bumble bees usually build their small nests in old mouse holes, under clumps of grass, or in other cozy spaces.
  • Their thick, fuzzy hair helps them stay warm during chilly desert mornings and high up in the New Mexico mountains.
  • Because they are big and warm, bumble bees can fly on cloudy, cool, or drizzly days when other bees stay home.
  • Bumble bees can grab onto a flower and vibrate their bodies super fast to shake loose pollen. This special trick is called buzz pollination!
  • After visiting a flower, a bumble bee leaves behind a tiny scent that tells other bees, “Hey, I already drank the nectar here!”

CARPENTER BEE

  • They may look like bumble bees, but carpenter bees have a smooth, shiny black belly with no fuzz. That’s one way to tell them apart!
  • Mom Bees use their strong jaws to drill perfectly round holes into dead trees and logs, creating safe tunnel homes for their babies.
  • Dad Bees act like security guards, hovering outside the tunnel and chasing away birds and big bugs.
  • Dad Bees might buzz right up to your face to look scary, but don’t worry—they don’t have a stinger!
  • Carpenter bees don’t build a brand-new tunnel every year. Instead, they clean out their old tunnels and move back in.
  • If a flower tube is too long for their tongue, they can poke a hole in the bottom of the flower to sneak out the nectar. This is called nectar robbing!
  • When New Mexico weather gets chilly in autumn, carpenter bees huddle up inside their cozy wood tunnels and sleep until spring.

HONEY BEE

  • Honey bees became New Mexico’s official state insect in 1989—the same year the Santa Fe Children’s Museum opened!
  • New Mexico is home to about a quarter of all the native bee species found in the United States.
  • Honey bees have five eyes! Two big eyes help them see, while three tiny eyes on top help them sense light.
  • When a bee finds a great patch of flowers, it does a special waggle dance to show its friends where to find the food.
  • Honey bees carry bright yellow pollen in special hairy baskets on their back legs called pollen baskets.
  • To make just one pound of honey, bees have to visit about two million flowers!
  • A hive can have up to 60,000 bees, with every bee doing a special job to help the colony.

LEAFCUTTER BEE

  • Leafcutter bees have sharp jaws like tiny scissors to cut perfect circles out of leaves and flower petals.
  • Most leafcutter bees are between 4 and 10 mm long, roughly the size of a green pea, with females growing larger than males. By contrast, mason bees can be up to 20 mm long.
  • To keep cozy, they roll the leaf pieces into tiny tubes inside holes in wood or stems to create safe nests for their eggs.
  • If you see a leaf with a perfect, smooth crescent or circle cut out of the edge, a bee artist has visited your yard!
  • Even though leafcutter bees cut out pieces of leaves, they never take enough to make the plant sick or stop growing.
  • Every leafcutter Mom Bee builds her very own nest all by herself.
  • These bees are incredibly gentle, and only sting if they are trapped or squished, and their sting feels like a tiny tickle.
  • Unlike honey bees, who pack pollen on their legs, leafcutter bees scoop it up on their extra-hairy tummies!

MASON BEE

  • Mason bees are the “superheroes” of Santa Fe orchards. They are much more efficient at pollinating apple trees than honey bees because they “belly flop” onto the flowers, spreading more pollen.
  • Mason bees are solitary, meaning every female is a “queen” who builds her own nest and provides for her own offspring. 
  • These bees get their name “mason” because they use mud like wet cement to build walls inside their nests, just like a human bricklayer!
  • A single mason bee can do the work of about 100 honey bees. 
  • These powerhouse bees visit up to 2,000 flowers a day and have a 95% pollination rate. 
  • Because they don’t have a hive or a queen to protect, they are non-aggressive and rarely sting, making them safe to have around children and pets. 
  • It is early to rise for these bees in the spring, right when New Mexico’s apple, peach, and cherry trees start blooming with yummy flowers.
  • They love sleeping in tube hotels. They cannot drill holes themselves, so they look for ready-made empty spaces like hollow plant reeds or holes left by beetles in logs.

SWEET BEE

  • Sweat bees are beautiful, shiny metallic green or bright blue and thoraxes with striped abdomens. Watch them sparkle in the sun!
  • These bees are desert bloom pollinators and are crucial for pollinating Native wildflowers and crops across the State. 
  • True to their name, these bees may land on you and drink up your sweat, which carries necessary minerals and sodium that are missing from their diet!
  • Don’t worry! They are not aggressive and will only give a tiny, minor sting if they get squished by accident.
  • These small bees are sometimes no bigger than a single grain of rice!
  • Instead of living in hanging hives, they dig tiny tunnels and build their nests right in the dirt.
  • Many Sweat bee Moms share the same underground doorway and work together like roommates.
  • They have extra hairy back legs that scoop up tons of pollen, helping local plants grow big and healthy.

WOOL CARDER BEE

  • Mom bees use their sharp jaws to scrape the soft, fuzzy hairs off of garden plants, roll them into a tight ball, and fly it home tucked under her chin.
  • Adorned with bright yellow and black stripes on their bodies, they are much fuzzier and wider than a wasp.
  • Dad Carder bees are very territorial and protect their favorite flowers by flying fast and body-slamming other insects.
  • Dad bees cannot sting, but they have three to five little spikes on the end of their bellies to help push away intruders.
  • Instead of packing pollen into baskets on their legs, the Mom bees scoop up yellow pollen on the furry underside of their tummies.
  • Carder bees move into old beetle tunnels, hollow stems, or holes in wood logs. 
  • In the bee world, carder bee females are usually larger, but carder bee males are much bigger and heavier.

HOVER FLY

  • Hoverflies aren’t bees, but their yellow and black stripes make them look like they could sting. In fact, they’re completely harmless!
  • Unlike bees, hoverflies have two wings and two big eyes. They can hover in one spot, fly sideways, and even fly backward like tiny helicopters!
  • As they visit flowers for nectar, they carry pollen from plant to plant, helping flowers, fruits, and vegetables grow.

  • Their babies look like tiny caterpillars and love to eat aphids, making hoverflies helpful little garden heroes!

EXPLORE OTHER POLLINATORS & THEIR PLANT PARTNERS:

Butterflies & Moths

Learn More

Hummingbirds

Learn More

Backyard Plants

Learn More
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High Desert Helpers is sponsored through the Trails+ Grant Program by the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division.