Black-tailed Bumble Bee

Description:

I think an animal dug up the nest and spread it around on the ground. Several of the cells still had bees in them, so I moved them to a protected mossy spot in the hopes some were still viable. I believe they were close to emerging already, as you can see in the photos that the one I did observe emerging seemed to be well developed. I did see one fully emerged one crawling nearby that looked pretty dry and ready to fly off at any moment (last photo). It was still a bit slow though. I can't be sure it was from the same nest, but it was crawling around right in the middle of where the nest was scattered.

Habitat:

Sitka Spruce forest floor, Termination Point Trail

Notes:

The cells are not actually eggs, though they do look egg-shaped. These are just the wax cells that the brood is raised in