# Mystery Holes, Trails, Appear in wood. Need ID



## dannybouie (5 mo ago)

I was working on something and all of a sudden about 2 weeks time.. I see this in the wood. I have timber and bracer already ready to go but I want ID this. What is the this? I went online but some of the sites do not have good photos.


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## NJPMA (3 mo ago)

Carpenter bee damage











The perfect hole is present, probably when the wood was stored outside bees nested on the wood

















treat the hole with pyrethrin for leftover bees and seal with wood putty


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## CaptTom (Dec 31, 2017)

NJPMA said:


> Carpenter bee damage
> The perfect hole is present, probably when the wood was stored outside bees nested on the wood


I thought they always left perfectly round holes, like your second photo. The OP's photos seem to show more oval-shaped holes. Maybe it's just a coincidence that I've only seen perfectly round ones?


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

With carpenter bees [borer bees] I always see a perfectly round hole unless it's an old hole and the wood around the hole has deteriorated.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

The long slots might be woodpeckers looking for lunch.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

It helps to know if the Carpenter Bees are scoping you out.

They look a lot like bumblebees, EXCEPT, instead of fuzzy yellow abdomens, theirs are shiny and black, like the picture shows in no. 2. They also have a distinctive hovering flight, which bumblebees don't do.

(The abdomen is that long shiny part under the wings.)


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## dannybouie (5 mo ago)

I see, Thanks. I'm still wondering because slightly smaller than a carpenter be but too large for beetles


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

dannybouie said:


> I see, Thanks. I'm still wondering because slightly smaller than a carpenter be but too large for beetles


Carpenter bees do vary in size, like bumblebees do. From sorta big to enormous, relatively speaking.


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