Carpenter Bees – large and small
Carpenter bees come in two sizes, but the one that does all the damage is the larger ones – Xylocopa. Weathered and rotting wood attracts these hole diggers, similar to carpenter ants, they don’t actually eat the wood rather they excavate tunnels to use as nests: usually in the eaves, decks, siding, fascia boards and or entryways. The adults use their nests to over winter, remerging in the spring to continue to use the same tunnels or find new ones. Although relatively harmless (only females have stingers), over time they can degrade the wood and leave nasty stains from their feces. Simple things that a homeowner can do to keep them away, is painting wood and keeping doors closed to prevent carpenter bee an entrance to wood. An infestation is easy to spot, because there are always entry holes that are about 2 cm wide and sawdust, pollen and feces near the entrance hole. Aggressive male carpenter bees will hang around the entrance ways trying to protect them – although again they can’t sting. Although they may cause structural damage, carpenter bees are significant pollinators and are very important to agriculture, plant growers and fruit producers. Woodpeckers are attracted to wood that has been infested with carpenter bees searching for the immature stages of these bees to eat.
https://gogreenpestcontrol.ca/carpenter-bees-large-and-small/
gogreenpestcontrol.ca Ladner Tsawwassen Delta B.C. Randy L.Bilesky BsF CPA
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/carpenter-bees-large-small-randy-bilesky/?published=t
