@stromboli-slurper submitted: Hi! No need to ID, I just wanted to share these bee friends I met the other day! They were both sitting on the ground and not really moving, so I was a little concerned. It's starting to get warmer in my area, so I'm guessing they were just waking up from their big sleep.
They hung out for a while, and flew off when they were ready :)
Definitely not unusual to find sluggish bees this time of year! These ones are VERY cute, especially the carpenter bee.
[La Union, NM - Picture is from May] Hi! Do you know who this nice pollen-dusted friend might be? It looks different from the usual carpenter bees I see in this area.
The usual species I see here is Xylocopa sonarina, but this looks way too fuzzy and not shiny enough to be a female of that species, and the males are fuzzy but they’re totally blonde. Just wondering if it’s a natural variation of that species, or if I made a new friend!
Thank you!! 🐝
Definitely a female carpenter bee, they can have fuzzy butts. You have both Xylocopa sonoria and Xylocopa californica in your area and they both have all black females. I personally can't tell them apart just by looking at them, though.
[VIDEO AND PHOTOS TAKEN: MAY 8TH, 2023 | Video and Image IDs: A video and six photos of a yellow and black eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) crawling on and chewing a hole into a brown walking stick in front of a grey background and a few other objects /End IDs.]