![]() ![]() If they feel threatened, however, the female will sting. You can stand pretty close and observe them, and they won’t harm you. Like most bees, carpenter bees aren’t aggressive. (Learn how to use this fact to your advantage in our article “ Best Carpenter Bee Bait.”) Nonaggressive Behavior If the wood is untreated, they won’t hesitate to make it their home.Ĭarpenter bees are resourceful and will make use of nests that are already built and might even prefer them over drilling out their own. They build their nests in wood, whether it’s a tree, park bench, house, or shed. Every female can lay eggs, so instead of living in a hive, each one goes out to mate and build its own nest. Queens leave the hive to mate and start their own bee colony.Ĭarpenter bees, on the other hand, are a bit more introverted. The male bees go out to mate with future queen bees, and all of the worker bees are infertile females. Honey bees live in a hive that consists of one queen and hundreds if not thousands of worker bees. You’ll find a complete guide to prevention and tons of relevant, useful tips for eliminating carpenter bees from your property here. Some people might not even recognize carpenter bees as bees because they don’t have the same behaviors. What is a Carpenter Bee?Ĭarpenter bees live very different lives than honey bees do. Their abdomen is blue and black, and their thorax and head are greenish-blue. They’re important pollinators and are utilized in many orchards to cause plants to bloom in early spring. The blue orchard bee, or the orchard mason bee, lives in holes since it can’t drill into wood. Instead of having blue hair, its entire body appears to be a shiny blue. While it’s a carpenter bee that’s blue, it’s incredibly different from the blue carpenter bee we’re talking about. The doubled certatina is a carpenter bee that can be found in North and Central America. Unlike carpenter bees, sweat bees have a queen and worker bee relationship and can be found living in groups. Sweat bees often live in the ground or wood, so they might be mistaken for carpenter bees. This type of sweat bee will appear to look blue or green. It was only discovered in 2011 and hasn’t been seen outside of Florida. It’s registered as endangered and was thought to be extinct until 2020. ![]() This bee is incredibly rare as it only lives in Highlands County, Florida. Again, some are rare, so it’s best to contact someone if you think you’ve spotted one. Several blue bees are living in the United States that might be confused with Xylocopa caerulea. If you do spot one, you should report it to a bee watch organization or a local university because scientists and nature enthusiasts would love to know about it. You probably won’t see any in the United States unless it’s a taxidermied version you buy online. This bee is native to India, Southeast Asia, and Southern China. Like all other carpenter bees, its abdomen is solid black and shiny, which is how you can distinguish carpenter bees from honey bees and bumble bees. Its blue color comes from tiny blue hair that covers its thorax. It measures almost 1 inch in size, which is pretty big for a bee. This blue bee is scientifically known as the Xylocopa caerulea. Rest assured, it’s not the handiwork of a digital artist, but rather the handiwork of nature. It’s not even a “sort of blue” bee – it’s unmistakenly blue. We’re used to seeing brown, black, and yellow bees, so it may come as a surprise to see a blue bee. ![]()
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