SpittinCobra, maybe they are afraid of you
Actually, I have lots and lots of those sweet, fat, striped bumble bees happily gathering pollen in my flowers. They are very gentle and polite. I
can work in my garden with them in peaceful co-existence.
I just thought of a yellow jacket theory.
From what I know, yellow jackets die off each winter, EXCEPT for the queen. In the spring, she begins growing her family and by the first killer
frost, she has greatly multiplied. That's why you see more as the summer progresses.
Perhaps the heavy rains in many areas drowned some queens or some early workers and kept the number low?????