When Esme and I were close to the bottom of the canyon near Chavarillo I spotted a big insect. It looked like an oversized bee with beautiful blue metallic wings. Later I learned that it was indeed a bee, a carpenter bee.
Read the rest of The tame carpenter bee.
I've lived in my house 35 years, for 30 of these years Carpenter Bees have lived beside my driveway. I stacked maulberry logs beside the drive to dry (the tree in my back yard had to be cut down), before winter came the bees had moved in. They have not ever attacked the wood (painted) trim on my house. In these years I have been bitten once - before daylight I picked up a "black lump" on my hummingbird feeder. It was a lost Carpenter Bee who did not appreciate being pinched - he/she bite me on the finger. The sting lasted 10 minutes and was gone. They always warn when I have walked into their space. With our wild bees and honey bees dying out I am thankful for these big gentle black bees.
I found your picture when I was looking for info on large black bee that I saw on my fruit tree. Thank you.
I wondered what these big black things were when I was being freaked out by them in Yosemite valley this past spring. I also saw a whole nest of them burrowing into the wood above a ranger's station. I'm glad to find out that they are gentle and non-aggressive, although I still don't care for them "buzzing" me! These are beautiful photos.
Note that your comment doesn't show up immediately. I review each comment before I add it to this site.
Check the Follow this page option if you want to receive an email each time a comment is posted to this page, including yours. A link to turn this option off will be included with each email.
Internet adresses will be converted automatically. You can use the following notation to specify anchor text for a link: [url=http://example.com/]example text[/url].
I can't believe the size of that BEE. WOW.