Carpenter Bees

Squinting in the fierce sunshine, welcome breezes chase the heat away from my corner on the deck, kissing the wind chimes just enough to facilitate a perfect harmonic resonance with the universe. Past, present, future, earth, sky, gods of all ilk, everything that ever was or ever will be, as one.

Just be.

Moments of unity are rudely interrupted by mini-black drones buzzing, hovering around deck railings, shooting sideways in an instant, then holding motionless in the air.

Black UFO’s the size of a peanut M&M.

I could have shot them out of the sky with my BB gun when I was little. I never did, even though they dared me.

Many humid Virginia summers spent down at my Grandfather’s pond first introduced us.

I’d hear the muted buzzing coming from multiple locations all around me on the old wooden dock. Sitting at the picnic table in the shade, I could even feel the slight vibration when a wood borer buzzed around in a horizontal tunnel she was excavating ½ inch beneath me in the underside of the bench seat where I was sitting.

Aside from the noisy visual displays, they were easy to spot.

Just look around for any small pyramid of sawdust and you will find a clean round hole in whatever wood surface is directly above it.

For some reason they loved the bench seats of that picnic table.

I would hang over the side of the bench enjoying the rush of blood to my head while watching a Carpenter bee hover around and enter that perfect round hole, going inside to see the kids.

Now, 60 years later, some of their ancestors have moved to Florida, and are enjoying the phenomenal weather out on the back deck.

Just like me.
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(From the Net)

During the spring, people often notice large, black bees hovering around the outside of their homes. These are likely to be carpenter bees, named for their habit of excavating holes in wood, in order to rear their young. Carpenter bees prefer unpainted, weathered wood, especially softer varieties such as redwood, cedar, cypress and pine. Painted or pressure-treated wood is much less susceptible to attack. Common carpenter bee nesting sites include eaves, rafters, fascia boards, siding, wooden shake roofs, decks and outdoor furniture.

Carpenter Bees vs. Bumblebees
Carpenter bees resemble bumblebees, but typically have a shiny, hairless abdomen. (Bumblebees usually have a hairy abdomen with black and yellow stripes.) The bees also have different nesting habits—bumblebees nest in an existing cavity often underground (e.g., in abandoned rodent burrows), whereas carpenter bees tunnel into wood to lay their eggs.

Fig. 1: Carpenter bee with shiny abdomen (left), bumblebee (right).

Biology and Habits
Carpenter bees do not live in colonies like honeybees or bumblebees. The adults overwinter individually, often in previously constructed brood tunnels. Those that survive the winter emerge and mate the following spring. Fertilized female carpenter bees then bore into wood, excavating a tunnel to lay their eggs. The entrance hole in the wood surface is perfectly round and about the diameter of your little finger. Coarse sawdust may be present below the opening, and tunneling sounds are sometimes heard within the wood. After boring in a short distance, the bee makes a right angle turn and continues to tunnel parallel to the wood surface. Inside the tunnel, about five or six cells are constructed for housing individual eggs. Working back to front, the bee provisions each cell with pollen (collected from spring-flowering plants) and a single egg, sealing each successive chamber with regurgitated wood pulp. Hatching and maturation occurs over several weeks, with the pollen serving as a food source for the developing larvae. Later in the summer, the new generation of adult bees emerge and forage on flowers, returning to wood in the fall for hibernation.