# Bumble bee (maybe) hanging out.



## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

That's a carpenter bee, and they hover like that. Not sure exactly why but they do. 

They're different from bumblebees in that bumblebees have yellow fur on their abdomens, while carpenter bees are shiny black. 

The big thing to look for is evidence they've been digging tunnels into wooden things nearby. My mailbox post has been tunneled by carpenter bees. They can turn wooden shingles into swiss cheese, which damages them. 

On the other hand, they're good pollenators, too, or so I've heard.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Startingover said:


> Why is he always in one spot? He’s been hanging out by a gate


A wooden gate I would guess ?

They are there because they have nests in the wood. They will burrow in from the side, or when they can, up from below if there is a horizontal beam.
Its not as easy as just plugging the hole. You can google how to eliminate carpenter bees.

Be glad he is not hovering around your wood siding.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

@Startingover I second @SPS-1 's comments and note that carpenter bees also like to hover near flowers they want to visit. 

ALSO, there's flies that mimic bees which hover like that too, though your critter (GREAT PICTURE, by the way!) looks like a bee, from the wings.


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## Steve2444 (Sep 28, 2020)

As a kid I used to hone my skills shooting them with a pellet rifle when they hover like that. 
Certainly a carpenter bee.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Caught in the act.

See, @Startingover you started another nice, positive exchange!


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

I have a brick house but there’s wood framing behind the brick So I spray periodically because of termites but also I spray the soffit because we have a lot of wasps in our neighborhood. I’ve even found little wasp paper nest started in amongst thick hedges.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Startingover said:


> I have a brick house but there’s wood framing behind the brick So I spray periodically because of termites but also I spray the soffit because we have a lot of wasps in our neighborhood. I’ve even found little wasp paper nest started in amongst thick hedges.


Unless you're really allergic to their stings, wasps are good to have around because of their voracious appetite for caterpillars and other bugs for their larvae (some also eat spiders). Most of the basic mud daubers and paper wasps aren't really aggressive. The ones to be concerned about are hornets, which are aggressive.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

DoomsDave said:


> Unless you're really allergic to their stings, wasps are good to have around because of their voracious appetite for caterpillars and other bugs for their larvae (some also eat spiders). Most of the basic mud daubers and paper wasps aren't really aggressive. The ones to be concerned about are hornets, which are aggressive.


Ohhh I have a shrub ‘cassia’ and yellow Sulphur butterfly lays eggs and I had a lot of little green caterpillars. They slowly disappeared so I would watch and the wasp were eating them that was pretty sad because I like the butterflies in my yard. once I had 20 a couple days later I had like 15 then none. they were too tiny they hadn’t hatched but they disappeared at an alarming rate.

I have a big comfortable plastic rocking chair outside. I was sitting in it and wasps were flying around and I thought I better move. I flipped the chair over and they were building nest underneath that chair.

you know how overhead garage doors are set back like 8 inches. wasp love to build nest underneath there, they’re smart enough to know that they have some protection from the elements.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I kill every carpenter bee I can - they are just too distructive!


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

mark sr said:


> I kill every carpenter bee I can - they are just too distructive!


Good to know.


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