Hi. Your article was very helpful. But I have a question. We get 1 or 2 black carpenter bees in our backyard every spring/summer. They don’t really do anything but scare us. But yesterday we saw a bee that looked and acted just like a carpenter bee except it was totally orange. The whole body. Could that still be a carpenter bee? Just curious. Thanks for your time.
Most likely a Valley Carpenter Bee. These are are commonly seen as being golden or tan and very fuzzy. They live on the western side of the US but can migrate. They’ve been described as “gold” and even orange. We suspect it’s the local light that makes their color vary. Regardless of their color, they’re still very much carpenter bees and can be controlled as described in our carpenterbee control article.
guest says
Can Carpenter Bees be completely golden color? I live in California. We have the big black bees around out lavendar bushes. Today I saw one the same size but all golden like a honey bee? Was that a carpenter bee too?
admin says
@guest: Gold or orange colored carpenter bees are in your region so it’s entirely possible.
ge says
I have been on websites that said the golden ones were the male of the species. So are u saying it can be male or female but just a different variety of carpenter bee? The gold ones are very regular in their habits and come to the same plants at the same time every day, at about 4pm. They’re partial to anything with lavender colored flowers, wallflower, lavender, butterfly bush, scabiosa. But all are lilacor periwinkle blue in color.
admin says
These are a different species and are more commonly known as Valley Carpenter Bees.
Now like their yellow and black cousins, the valley carpenter bees behave pretty much the same. In other words, females do the food collecting; males hang out looking for females. So the ones you see landing on plants are the females.
And you are right about their daily pattern; they are most definitely drawn to anything lilac or purple in color and will show up at the same time day after day. This is a luxury afforded to them based on the consistent weather patterns in the regions where they thrive. Elsewhere – like here in the east – the climate can change so much from day to day that they have to adjust their flight times accordingly.
Cheers,
Jonathan
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