Sorry, I know that this isn't a honeybee, but I didn't know where else
to post to ask this.
I have this bumble bee-like flying insect in our yard, and was
wondering what it is.
It's a little larger than a bumble, and has a total black body.
It hoovers around like a bumble, and flys around seemly randomly
around a 20 square foot area, although, I've seen it seem to take
similar paths a lot. It doesn't hoover for long, like a second or two
at the most. Most of it's moves are quite fast for a second, then
stops briefly. At first, I thought it was some species of Bumble, but
it doesn't really stop on any flowers that I've seen.
It just seems to patrol an area for a while. It seems docile. It
hasn't stung us (although if it's not really a bee, then maybe it
doesn't have a stinger).
Like I said,...

It sounds like a bumble to me..just larger a queen perhaps. Your
descriptions of it's maneuvers while on the wing and the large black abdomen
are just like the big queens that appear here in north Texas in mid April.
You will only see them for a brief period at that time of year then they're
gone for the rest of the season not to be seen again until the following year.

Maybe in Ontario your early spring is in late May.

On Mon, 26 May 2008 15:11:20 -0700, kryten wrote:

Any wooden structures in the area? I have large all-black bees like
that, they are carpenter bees, and they bore holes in the 4x4s in an
old shed where they lay their eggs. Just a guess. There are so many
types of solitary bees and wasps around it's impossible to indentify
without at least a picture.

I have wooden fences in the area, but not really any large exposed
wood.
I have a garage, but vinyl sided, and have not seen the bees inside
the garage.
Our house is brick, and the garage next to me is concrete block.
I would like to try and get a dig photo of it, but it moves pretty
constantly :-)
Mark.

That's my take on it too. Carpenter bees make their nests in what ever
wood is available. They also tend to be Lone Rangers sans Tonto, i.e.,
one may be all you see and they are rarely seen in groups.

Dick

I have managed to get a couple of pictures of the bee and put them on
my web site.
The resolution is pretty high, and you'll likely have to scroll around
the pages to find it, but the images of the bee are big enough.

http://home.mountaincable.net/~mmisener/bee_1.htm
and
http://home.mountaincable.net/~mmisener/bee_2.htm

Thanks,
Mark.

On 29 May, 20:36, kryten gmail.com> wrote: