Bumblebee on goldenrod
Bombus impatiens
Bumblebee · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 24 August 2025
A Common Eastern Bumblebee on goldenrod in the August border, a full orange pollen basket already packed onto the hind leg. Bumblebee colonies nest in the ground across the eastern United States, and late-season goldenrod is one of the last major nectar and pollen sources before the first frost; they time their last brood around exactly this bloom.
The yellow thorax and single yellow band make it the Common Eastern. Goldenrod gets blamed for hay fever it does not cause; its pollen is too heavy to blow, and the culprit is the ragweed flowering beside it.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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