Carpenter bees (Xylocopa) may be known for burrowing into wood surfaces, but these solitary bees don’t actually consume it; rather they use existing tunnels or dig new ones – typically found near roof eaves or decks – as entranceways into their territory.
Female woodworms create a circular opening approximately half an inch wide in wood, usually starting at either end of existing tunnels or beginning entirely new tunnels. She then adds brood cells for her eggs and storage cells for food.
Contents
Pollen
Carpenter bees rely on flowers for nourishment. As bees travel from flower to flower, pollen clings to their furry bodies before being collected by special baskets (corbiculae) attached to their legs – helping it reach another flower and pollinate it in turn.
Once inside an ideal nest site, female carpenter bees excavate an entrance tunnel about half an inch wide before excavating downward at an approximately 90deg angle, creating rows of storage cells and brood cells for storage purposes and breeding purposes – known as galleries.
Contrary to popular belief, carpenter bees don’t eat wood; rather they use their sharp mandibles to bore into it using burrowing techniques that have an obvious telltale ring of sawdust around or underneath their entrance or burrow. Solitary carpenter bees will return year after year adding food stores and brood cells as needed.
Nectar
Carpenter bees are adept pollinators of flowers with open or shallow petals, such as hibiscus or azalea blooms. Their short mouthparts enable them to access deep into petals to collect nectar for digestion; additionally they utilize buzz pollination by vibrating their legs in order to shake loose pollen grains for easier collection (Greenburgh Nature Center). Carpenter bees also serve an integral role in monarch butterfly survival by pollinating milkweed plants that is essential for their survival.
Male carpenter bees make an early spring visit to old tunnels in search of female bees who will lay eggs. She then provides each chamber with pollen and regurgitated nectar (bee bread). Larvae emerge during August feeding on this nectar before pupating into adult bees that return to their tunnels for overwintering – unlike honeybees who live in colonies; instead these species tend to live solitary lives without hierarchies, rarely sting and have lifespans of two to three years while producing one generation per year when living in cooler climates.
Water
Carpenter bees drink water to quench their thirst during foraging activity. Common sources include pond edges, bird baths and drops from flowering plant leaves that expel drops of moisture into the air.
Nest-building woodpeckers utilize unpainted wooden surfaces such as window trims, decks, fences and wooden lawn furniture to construct nests for their young. You can identify their work by the half-inch holes they drill into surfaces such as eaves, window trims, decks, fences or furniture in which you see round holes drilled every few inches by them – including the roof overhang, window trims and window trims that contain round, half-inch diameter holes drilled by them into these areas.
Carpenter bees differ from honey bees in that they don’t live in hives and do not produce honey, instead using their long tongues for pollination by collecting nectar from flowers.
Carpenter bees can be valuable pollinators. Additionally, their presence helps regulate other pest populations that damage vegetation. You can reduce carpenter bee numbers and damage by painting exposed wood surfaces with protective paint or using building materials less attractive to them such as plastic. You could even install bee houses equipped with predrilled tunnels which offer shelter.
Food Sources
Carpenter bees, like other bees, feed on nectar and pollen as the sole sources of nutrition for both adult carpenter bees as well as their young.
Nectar is a carb-rich sweet liquid that supplies quick energy boosts to busy bees. Furthermore, nectar also contains essential nutrients and vitamins essential to maintaining their overall health and wellness.
Pollen is packed with proteins, amino acids, vitamins and lipids which is why carpenter bees must ingest it for proper growth and development. Nectar actually contains proteins which cause carpenter bees to drill their tunnels in wood to reach it – making them excellent natural insect pollinators! Unfortunately due to their size limitations they cannot access flowers’ openings; instead they become nectar “robbers”, cutting slits in side corollas to steal away sweet liquid without actually providing pollination services!
