Busy Bees

Boring, as in BORING Bees ~ ~ ~

I noticed some Bee activity on our patio along with the very warm weather lately. The Common Eastern Carpenter Bee is not the typical Bumble Bee. These Bees look similar, act similarly, but will bore holes in your fence, wooden door frames or lintels.

A pile of sawdust is your clue; these are not termite piles. Boring a highly polished hole about 3/8 in.in diameter directly up into the bottom of a nesting substrate (usually an eave, picnic bench, fence belt, or similar wood structure). The tunnels become larger -- about 1/2 in. -- inside. When the female is boring tunnels, there is a collection of fresh sawdust below the hole.

Male eastern carpenter bees are curious and will investigate anyone, including humans, that comes near their nests. The curiosity is often interpreted as aggressiveness; however, the males are only aggressive to other male carpenter bees. They do not have stingers and cannot cause any real harm. The female carpenter bees tend to be busy with floral visitation and nest provisioning, but have the ability to cause a painful sting if captured.