Studies of Carpenter Bees, watercolor and ink.
You know there are interesting things all around us to discover, some are right under our noses…or under our eaves! I have known about Carpenter Bees but never paid them much attention, until this year. I caught one and started to draw it from life, safely keeping it in a plastic container under a screen. I did the studies above from life, then just for fun added the little quick sketch bees as a border around it. I put the green after to add color and liven it up, and the red and blue ribbon with an arrow was just me messing around!
Female Carpenter Bee I captured for study.
It seems the bees LOVE the eaves under my back porch, and are making their home there.It may not have bothered me much before, then I watched a video about the damage they can do to your timber. Uh oh. This is a photo of the female bee, you can clearly see the abdomen (end part) is shiny black, unlike the bumble bee which is nice and fuzzy black. It also has a spot on it’s back where there are no bristles, like a bald patch.
Front view shows no light patch that the males have.
Oh my, look at those choppers! The female will chew and cut wood with her mouth parts, so I wouldn’t want her landing on my arm! Yikes! Actually, the female can sting and the male cannot. I liked this view though, with her wings sort of up, head down.
Male Carpenter Bee in flight, showing the light patch.
After I drew the bees and photographed the female, I got curious about the bees and that’s when I looked them up online and did a little research. From my upstairs bathroom window you can see the males around the porch eaves below, like they are guarding territory. The male is easy to tell by the light patch on it’s face, it will look whitish to you, but a book said it was yellow. Isn’t this a cool picture? It took me many, many tries just to get the few blurry pictures I have here! I like how he has his antennae up while flying, his little legs tucked under.
Side view of male bee in flight.
Look at this shot!, he’s so stout looking.
Rear view of Carpenter Bee in flight.
This is one from behind, now that definitely looks stout! How does he hold himself up with those little wings?
Here's a close up of my sketch so you can see it better.
This close up shows how the wings are folded over the back.
Here’s a close up that shows the wings folded over the back, you’d never know there were actually 4 wing parts when you look at it. There is two on each side, just like butterflies; each has a forewing and hindwing.
Check out this article about Carpenter Bee Control, complete with videos! Then you’ll see why I need to get rid of the bees.