Carpenter Bees

These are large, attractive-looking bees with a blue-black, green or purple metallic sheen. They often burrow into the exposed dry wood of buildings, fence post and telephone

 poles. The burrow of one bee may be more than 12 inches long and since the bees often colonize in the same piece of wood, the damage may be quite extensive. They often attack such objects as 

window sills, wooden siding, eaves, outdoor furniture and fences.

Carpenter bees are so named because they excavate galleries in wood to create nest sites.

They do not consume wood. Rather, they feed on pollen and nectar.

Carpenter bees are important pollinators of flowers and trees. Carpenter bees typically are just nuisance pests that cause cosmetic rather than structural damage to wood.

Nonetheless, considerable wood damage can result from many generations of carpenter bees enlarging existing galleries in wood.

Carpenter bees somewhat resemble bumble bees, except bumble bees have dense yellow hairs on the abdomen and large pollen baskets on the hind legs. Various species of bumble bees and carpenter bees are similar in size.