What on earth is this thing?

[Sue Nomie]

With the shortage of honey bees they are filling in as pollinators. We used to have lots of bees here in HPP
now the only type I see are these guys.

[TomK]

A year or so ago I did a little experiment with the black carpenter bees that kept flying through my lanai and freaking me out. They look for signposts. OK, not the signposts you and I look for, but they fly on routes and check things that will mark out their routes. It took a little time, but if you watch them fly by they will stop, hover a bit, and check something out, and then continue on their way.

After a week or so of watching this (early morning in case that's relevant) I switched the stuff they were focused on and all of a sudden I had no carpenter bees flying through the lanai. The odd one would pass by but because the thing they were looking for had been moved they were confused and went off elsewhere - at least for another few days. Then they came back, I assume after they'd figured out the changes. So I took everything off the lanai that they seemed to look at - bright coloured stuff, things with sharp edges, something that just stood out, anything that an insect might consider a marker. They disappeared again.

Although I'm a scientist I'm certainly not an expert when it comes to biology or bee behaviour, but the results were quite interesting, at least to me. This probably won't help with any problems caused by the bees living in your siding or anything like that, but if you have problems with them flying by your head every minute or two, it's a tactic you might want to try; watch them, see what they look for as a marker, and move it somewhere else.

[dayna]

I don't mind bees so long as they are not living in my siding! I'll keep an eye on them though. We have lots of honey bees and those big black golf ball bees and now the carpenter bees.

I love watching them, last year we had a swarm of honey bees consider our eves as a new place to live. We used the hose to discourage that. While I love honey bees, I don't want to share my house with them.

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com

[bananahead]

dont kill the bees... the males are smaller and gold, and the females are large and black and far more commonly seen...

they are great pollinators!

******************************************************************
save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

[dayna]

quote:

---

Originally posted by bananahead

dont kill the bees... the males are smaller and gold, and the females are large and black and far more commonly seen...

they are great pollinators!

******************************************************************
save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

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Don't worry! I won't. I was watching them today and while I didn't see any males but enjoyed seeing the females come and go.

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com

[Delta9r]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee

While some may consider these bees to be "harmless" I have been (late 1970's) on a canoe in which these bees drilled so many holes in the 'iako (outrigger) that on the first turn both 'iako broke and the canoe capsized (huli) and we ended up having to tie the hull of the disabled canoe to a seaworthy craft in order to limp the hull back to shore.

Failure to properly maintain the canoe led to this mishap, as the canoes would sit on the beach all year long unless they were in the shop for repairs.

The same goes for your home, it makes good sense to treat your lumber, even if it's just salt water, in order to avoid feeding the more voracious feeding insects.

"Life is labor, and all that is good in life comes from that labor..."

[Wao nahele kane]

The type found here in Hawaii:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoran_carpenter_bee


- Armed citizens provide security of a free State.

[Wao nahele kane]

The False Blister Beetle is the one you want to watch out for and the most annoying FLYING insects in Waa Waa but not sure about other areas of the island. They do induce blisters that seem to appear out of nowhere if they secrete on your skin. They do taste extremely foul... one got in my beer between sips and polluted the whole thing. At first I thought I had swallowed it... thank god I hadn't and that's the only reason I know what caused the foul taste.
http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2009/07...er-beetle/

We'll be getting an industrial/heavy duty bug zapper as soon as I stumble across one. Thus far they've all been little ones that will more than likely short out in the first 5 minutes of use.

- Armed citizens provide security of a free State.