I have explained before that I
don't have much knowledge about bees or wasps, but I'm very
slowly learning. This week, I was finally able to document one of the differences between carpenter bees and bumble bees. Before this year big, yellow and black striped bees were all bumble bees to me. As it turns out, I learned that carpenter bees look similar to bumble bees, however carpenter bees are larger and have smoother abdomens while bumble bees have furry abdomens. And from my experience, bumbles bees move a lot faster and more often from bloom to bloom. So for a few weeks now, I thought I have been seeing bumble bees instead of carpenter bees, but they wouldn't hold still long enough to know for sure. Yesterday, I finally got a picture that confirmed my suspicions.
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| Notice the fuzzy abdomen of the bumble bee on the left and the smooth abdomen of the carpenter bee on the right. |
So my knowledge is slowly increasing. Who knows? Maybe soon I will be able to reliably tell a bee from a wasp on first sight. Or maybe not. :)
Mostly I worry about getting stung, regardless of what stings me. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe bumble bees don't seem too interested in me even when I'm close to them. However, yellow jackets are another story.
DeleteWow! My yard gets full of all sorts of different bees and wasps. My favorite are the big fuzzy ones that are the size of a marble. No idea what they're called.
ReplyDeleteMy main focus in identification though is telling the wasps from the yellow jackets - since the last time I got stung by a yellow jacket my leg swelled up like a sweet potato and I had to be on steroids for a week! Apparently yellow jackets have a one section body and wasps have two. Not that it's easy to discern when they're buzzing about!
As I mentioned before, I don't know much about the buzzing, stinging world, but I think yellow jackets are a kind of wasp. However, it sounds like you are like my husband, and it would be good for you to avoid all stinging things.
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