One fat bee patrols my deck

May 3, 2015 10:21 AM

Ever since spring weather arrived in Brooklyn, there's been a single large bee patrolling my 3rd floor balcony. (1) What's the deal with this bee - where can I read more about its lifestyle? And (2) can I gently discourage it and its kind from hanging out and buzzing around my head when I want to sit out in the sun? It mostly ignores me when I'm out there, but I feel watched the whole time.

It's about the size and shape of a jelly bean (full-size, not a puny jelly belly) with a glossy rear end with barely visible stripes, and fuzzy yellow shoulders. It hovers over the exact center of the deck, slowly rotating, all day. Occasionally a similar bee will approach, they will tussle (or shake hands, I don't know, it happens really fast), zoom off somewhere, and seconds later one bee will come back and resume the patrol. I've been assuming it's the same bee coming back, but maybe it's a shift change or the winner of the wrestling match. In previous springs here i haven't seen this particular bee behavior.

posted by moonmilk to Science & Nature (16 answers total)

Carpenter bee? They chew little pencil-diameter holes in wood and lay eggs in there. The males hang around like the goodyear blimp, slow and ponderous, sometimes trying to ward off encroachers. I don't know that you can discourage them, but you can rest easy because they won't sting.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:27 AM on May 3, 2015

Carpenter bee fact sheet from NC State.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:35 AM on May 3, 2015

Thanks - looks like it's gotta be a carpenter bee. Since this is sort of a pet post, I feel obliged to post pictures of my giant bee. They're blurry, because he (I feel safe in calling him 'he' now) wouldn't stay still for me.
posted by moonmilk at 10:45 AM on May 3, 2015

I think I can see in the photos the "whitish spot on the front of the face" that distinguishes males from females, according to that fact sheet.
posted by moonmilk at 10:47 AM on May 3, 2015

I just helped a friend in Raleigh lock a carpenter bee out of its home. I bet it looked like this? Look for the holes and if you plug them up they will eventually go elsewhere.
posted by jessamyn at 10:48 AM on May 3, 2015

They're harmless. Native bees (as opposed to honeybees) and valuable pollinators. If he's not doing any damage to your house, let him stay.
posted by tully_monster at 10:51 AM on May 3, 2015

Having learned that they don't sting, I will let him stay. My building is all brick and stucco outside, so if they have a home nearby, it must be in the wooden deck - I don't mind if there's some bee condos in the planks.
posted by moonmilk at 10:54 AM on May 3, 2015

The bee stood on the wooden deck
Whence all but he had fled —
posted by moonmilk at 10:55 AM on May 3, 2015

The mental image I have of one bee coming along with his wee little bee lunchbox and tiny bee thermos to take over the deck-patrol shift is making me very happy. (We have carpenter bees on our deck, too. They don't do any harm, except to give the cats something to watch from the windows.)
posted by sarcasticah at 11:20 AM on May 3, 2015

Awww! I'm so glad you decided to let him stay! Carpenter bees are such lovely bees and so much fun to watch. They will occasionally dive bomb you (and your pets and birds and city buses and...) if you get too close to the nest. They don't sting, they just want to drive you away with the sound and furry (which I'm sure seems enormous to them) of their tiny wings. In my experience (for many years I LOVED to watch the carpenter bees every summer in my old home) once they get to know you, they stop worrying about driving you off, and go after strangers (like birds and cars and things) instead. You said you didn't mind some little bee houses in the deck (bless you!) but in case you ever do mind, or for anyone else reading, you can make solitary bee houses that are as simple or complex as you choose. Usually they will use those instead of chewing new homes.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 11:44 AM on May 3, 2015

Sorry, I have to say again, that I am just so delighted that you let him stay. Bees are having such a rough time of it these days, and they need all the friends they can get. Yay you!!!
posted by WalkerWestridge at 11:45 AM on May 3, 2015

I think the idea of letting carpenter bees hang around is great. If I build or buy a bee "hotel," will wasps settle there instead? We tend to get yellowjackets (wasps) around our porch, and I've considered luring bees, not knowing whether the bees would discourage the wasps (which love to sting the heck out of me).
posted by Smalltown Girl at 3:57 PM on May 3, 2015

We accidentally displaced some carpenter bees while replacing a rotted fence. We didn't know the bees were there until the crew cut down an old post and the post started buzzing. We later cut the post open. It looked like a few very large termites had built a home, but not so many that it would have been a structural problem (dry rot or real termites would have been a much bigger problem).

Good on you for leaving your bee in peace. Carpenter bees are scary at first, but they're docile and fun to watch and study.
posted by dws at 6:53 PM on May 3, 2015

Small town Girl it is possible you might have solitary wasps move in if you have any in the area. Yellow Jackets and paper wasps (which people often mistake for Yellow Jackets) are not solitary. It is unlikely (extremely unlikely) they would use your bee house. Solitary wasps like solitary bees, are harmless and are also good polinators.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 5:12 AM on May 4, 2015

I have seen carpenters bees destroy a (decorative, unfinished driftwood) structure over the course of about a year, so do be careful if you decide not to evict them from your deck. You should be able to follow the bee to the entrance of its tunnel, then you can just keep an eye on the integrity of the planks in that area and replace if they get spongy.
posted by contraption at 11:54 AM on May 4, 2015

I haven't seen my giant bee in a few days. Maybe he found a bee to wed and they flew out to the suburbs to raise the larvae.
posted by moonmilk at 3:10 PM on May 7, 2015