If you own a wooden structure with exposed wood siding, logs or a wooden deck, chances are high you have encountered Carpenter Bees. These rather large insects are found in abundance on every continent minus Antarctica. They are close in appearance and size to a Bumblebee with the exception that they do not have hair on their abdomen, and only the female bee stings when provoked.
Carpenter Bees are solitary insects and do not live in colonies like traditional honeybees. Instead, the female carpenter bee will drill a hole in dead wood that is approximately one-half inch wide at a rate of one inch every five to six days. She will use her large mandibles in combination with vibrating her body to create a drilling like action.
In this process they do not consume the wood, they are simply excavating the wood to create a home for their future brood. The male Carpenter Bees will hover near the vicinity of the nest to help keep guard.
