Where Do Bumblebees Sleep?

Stop worrying yourself silly. Biting your cuticles bloody and missing sleep at night is no way to live. You look like a cast member of “The Living Dead” clutching your morning coffee. It's not healthy for you to spend all your time worrying about where bumblebees sleep!

So I’ll tell you right now and we’ll put an end to this thing.

Most of them sleep in nests. Small nests that can be anywhere: an abandoned birds nest, in the woodpile next to the back stairs, maybe under the wet couch out on the porch next to that rusted old Pepsi cooler you've been planning  to renovate for over three years. 

But not these guys. There are rogues out there.Those are the manly bumblebees. They live outside the nest, often falling asleep right at dinner when the sun starts to go down and cooler air causes their wing muscles to slow. In late summer, they’ll sleep on the last flower they landed on the night before, much like my old roommate in college.

As the sun comes back up again, still groggy from drinking too much nectar, they may stumble around a bit and wonder what the hell happened to them last night.  Pet them if you want, they almost never sting. Soon enough though, after a few good shoulder shrugs and push-ups, they are ready to do it all over again.

Lifting slowly from their brightly colored launch pads, they resemble heavy dirigibles more than real flying machines. Then a light breeze helps to lift them and off they go, already thinking about another party tonight, and a belly full of nectar.