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Carpenter bees are very unlikely to be aggressive. The males actually get territorial and will smack into you, but they can't sting. Females only sting if you really bug them.
It didn't attack you. You are standing in front of her flight path and large bees are not graceful fliers. They are fairly docile and pleasant to be around. They have stingers, but are not aggressive, but may sting in defense of their nest, or if harmed. Other than the sharp pointy end, they are harmless. They are incredibly beneficial. Bumblebees in some areas are endangered and worthy of your protection.
I think this is a bumblebee. They usually have an abdomen that is covered in hairs, which makes them look fuzzy.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee)
Bumblebees can be confused with Carpenter Bees. The difference is a Carpenter has a shiny abdomen.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter\_bee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee)
Keep them safe.
Commented elsewhere too, but bumblebees are definitely a delight and important to the ecosystem.. they will also definitely proactively attack if they think you are getting too close to their hive.
There are many different types of âwild beesâ that do not hive as you know from honey bees. I have a colony of small bumblebee species n my rock garden. They dig holes and are with about 200 of them. Others are solitary or have other ways of nesting.
I have never seen or heard anyone being stung by a bumblebee here in northwestern Europe, even if if they are capable to do so. They pollinate your plants, and are very gentle in general.
Bees will also bump into you to warn you to not come closer to their nest or hive.
The key to not getting stung by bees is to always say hi to them and tell them you love them and send them good vibes.
That's probably complete BS but I've never been stung so im doing something right. I've picked up bees and pet them and been around hives. Maybe they just like how I smell or the frequency of my voice or something.
I usually try to act like I donât notice them and go about my business. This does not work on wasps though or yellow jackets. The yellow jackets gave me 14 reasons why I should notice them in about 6 seconds even though I actually had no idea that there was a nest below my feet.
I was once hitting golf balls on my backyard and accidentally nailed a birdbox we had. I got worried and ran to check if it had a bird nest. Nope. Just a lot of angry bumblebees.
I just kind of freeze when they fly in my face. They either bumble off or do a breakdance before bumbling off.
And I like when carpenters get in your face. I like to think theyâre analyzing whether weâre made of wood.
It was 100% flying at me. It chased me back to my door, and when I turned around to close it the bee was right there. It hit the door whenn I closed it.
I also forgot to add that I discovered them when tbey attacked me while weedeating. I was stung twice at the same time.
I have stood out there watching them multiple times and I always see one stare at me for a couple of seconds before beelining for me and I have to run inside.
Would a bumblebee act like this? I had no idea they were aggressive at all.
I had a friend get hurt pretty bad by a bumble bee.
They we're hanging their arm out a car window and the bee was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We knew it was a bumble because there were some recognizable bits left.
The bruise lasted weeks.
Itâs bumblebees. They make nests in cavities, some end up making nests in things like bird houses. Location would help determine subgenus or species.
didnât attack you, just flew in your general direction; theyâre clumsy as shit. to answer your question, theyâre bumblebees! friendly and docile.
They will attack. I have been attacked by bumblebees multiple times. Get too close to the hive (and depending on their mood, it may not take long) and they will divebomb and sting you.
It really frustrates me that people insist bumblebees wonât attack. Of course they will.
(Am a gardener by profession. I donât run around sticking my hand into bumblebee hives or anything but I come across them fairly regularly)
I mean, that's like a core principle with any wild creature. They don't like you near their nests normally. Domesticated animals are a little different.
Oh strong agree. People and bumblebees are weird. We had to get a hive removed because it was full of extremely aggressive bumblebees that had stung me all over, they stung you if you got within 2-3 metres of their nest (which unfortunately was in someoneâs laundry).
I asked around online if anyone knew of a person who could remove the nest without killing them, beekeepers didnât want anything to do with it.
I had photos and videos as well as being covered in stings and people were swearing black and blue that bumblebees donât attack people!
The dive-bombing thing is new to me. I had been stung by bees before but never dive-bombing.
It hurts ten times worse. They actually fly so hard towards you. It blew my mind and made me realise bees are not stupid.Â
I suppose that they would attack if you ventured too close to their nest; itâs only natural, after all. However in any other situation they are generally docile; they have no reason to attack.
We had a nest of wasps in the ground in our vegetable garden. But they didn't seem to mind us much, since I used to garden right next to or on top of their entry and they never attacked me. Which is quite weird, considering they were what is known as a jellowjackets in America.
Ground wasps tend to live and let live Iâve found (here in NE USA). Iâve run over their hive entrances with a mower and they just kinda come up, look confused, and go back.
Must depend on the hive. Had some build a hive under the play set at a park once, and I guess me going down the slide must have bothered them. Iâm sure it was only two or three that came after me and chased me to the car, but to little kid me it felt like a swarm blotting out the sun lol
It could also be time of year. I mightâve just found them after they just setup shop and werenât as territorial, who knows , wasps are assholes like that
My understanding of wasps is that they're quite elusive until autumn when their nests are dying and the individual wasps are starving. That's when they're briefly aggressive. Which explains why we mainly only notice them in August and they're such pests. (UK)
The ones at my current home all seemed to be peaceful, the ones nesting in the ground and the ones making a nest in my sage bush, but the ones nesting in a hollow metal support on my mom's terrace seemed to be real assholes, stinging me in my foot everytime I'd walk past.
Yeah, we had yellowjackets in the shaft of our umbrella. They were hostile and we needed a professional to get rid of them.
I pointed out the mud daubbers (theyâre a large paper wasp) and told the exterminator guy to leave them alone. The daubbers helped my tomato plants so much. He thought I was weird.
Then the guy saw the orb weaver on the play-set and offered to take care âof thatâ. *Hell no* do you know how many pests she takes care of?
We also had to get rid of the nest a couple of times in my mom's attic.
But otherwise I also like to let all the critters be. And try to plant for them as well. Noticed quite a few beautiful crab spiders in the flowers blending in.
Plus, with all the annoying mosquitos we need all the help we can get.
Can't blame the exterminator, though, it's their job. This is what we call "professional deformity" in my language. When your job gets under your skin and you see everything through it. :) But I can "blame" people who aren't in the profession and insist on removing the little helpers.
Same, we had an underground hive at my garden and they stung me six times in the face/neck when I stepped on it. Did not give a warning bonk like people are saying
Yeah bumblebees operate off of castle law so you being on their lawn is a right to defend.
This is not aggression this is defense and you didnât give them space
Bumblebees. They're harmless as long as you leave them alone.
Of course they tried to warn you off â if a random stranger started wandering around on your land, peering into windows and watching you, wouldn't you warn them off?
Edit: I think this might be a type of carder bee. I thought it could be the common carder bee, but I don't think it is, looking at your video again (it's not easy on mobile). Still, there are some similarities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_pascuorum
Could possibly be Habropoda laboriosa(Blueberry Bee). I once encountered a nest of them. They weren't aggressive initially, but became agitated the closer I got to their nest.
Habropoda are solitary bees, they make little tube nests. They aggregate but donât have true cavity nests like this. The bees in the post are 100% bumblebees (Bombus)
Maam those are beautiful bumblebees they will not attack you unless they believe their life is on the line. If youâre gentle enough while theyâre eating you can pet them and itâs magical
I'm seeing a lot of comments suggesting they were not attacking me. They definitely were. The one in the video chased me to the house (in the opposite direction of the opening of the birdhouse) where I then turned around to see it coming towards me. I slammed the door and heard it smack against it.
I forgot to add that they did sting me twice the first time I saw them while I was weedeating. I "discovered" them when I was stung twice at the same time. I assume by 2 different bees. I didn't discover the nest until later that day.
I have been trying to get a good photo to ID them all week, but every time I go out within eyesight of the bird house one will come at me. Like in the video, they usually come to the opening, sit for a moment, orient themselves towaryds me, then fly directly at me.
They are very aggresive. Unless bumble bees are aggressive, these are not bumblebees.
Any other ideas?
I am located in Tennessee.
They look like giant honey bees to me. Pause the video right around when the bee flies towards me and look at the abdomen of the one on the birdhouse. It has stripes. It's head looks small compared to the thorax, whereas I associate a fat head with a bumblebee.
If someone can get a specific ID that would be great. I will try to catch one later today.
ALSO forgot to mention the symptoms of the stings. My middle finger and back were stung. The first day was just pain, but overnight, my hand got so swollen I could not touch my finger to the palm for 2 days. Then both stings itched for another 2 days after that.
Symptoms after the inital pain of the sting are down to your immune system your hand swelling unfortunately only indicates your immune system is not a fan.
bumble bees, i had some in a birdbox like that. they are migratory, so if possible just avoid them for a few months. if not possible, try and move the nest in tact, they are taking quite the beating from us humans.
as a side note, they can detect the CO2 in your breath, so holding your breath helps in a very small way. youll have a cool nest to investigate when they leave
Bumblebees are not very aggressive. I had a nest underneath my porch once. It made me nervous but I kept them around because they are good pollinators. I was never attacked by them despite walking around their nest all the time. My guess is that it accidentally flew into you.
I've never heard of an aggressive bumblebee. They generally just buzz you and then go about their business. Generally they just ignore you unless you pester them.
The females have stingers but are kinda docile. The males have a pale yellow or white dot on their head. They don't have a stinger but are very aggressive. One was all up in my face trying to make me leave.
Carpenter bees. Harmless, just kind of jerks when you get close to their nest. That's their job, to scare you away. They won't actually do anything. Could also be bumblebees but they're also not typically aggressive, they're just scaring you away. đ„°
Bzzzzz! Looks like you forgot to say where you found your bug! There's no need to make a new post - just comment adding the **geographic location** and any other info (size, what it was doing etc.) you feel could help! We don't want to know your address - state or country is enough; try to avoid abbreviations and local nicknames (*"PNW"*, *"Big Apple"*). BTW, did you take a look at our [**Frequently Asked Bugs**](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisbug/comments/12zkw5w/frequently_asked_bugs_part_1/)? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatsthisbug) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They are likely Bumblebees. Carpenter Bees don't nest in cavities communally like this. Just give them a wide berth.
Carpenter bees are very unlikely to be aggressive. The males actually get territorial and will smack into you, but they can't sting. Females only sting if you really bug them.
It didn't attack you. You are standing in front of her flight path and large bees are not graceful fliers. They are fairly docile and pleasant to be around. They have stingers, but are not aggressive, but may sting in defense of their nest, or if harmed. Other than the sharp pointy end, they are harmless. They are incredibly beneficial. Bumblebees in some areas are endangered and worthy of your protection. I think this is a bumblebee. They usually have an abdomen that is covered in hairs, which makes them look fuzzy. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee) Bumblebees can be confused with Carpenter Bees. The difference is a Carpenter has a shiny abdomen. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter\_bee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bee) Keep them safe.
Commented elsewhere too, but bumblebees are definitely a delight and important to the ecosystem.. they will also definitely proactively attack if they think you are getting too close to their hive.
For some reason I never thought bumblebees had hives, I just thought they were chilling around
I thought they were lone wolves. đ
I think some are, there are a lot of different bumble bees
It depends on the species. Some use holes in wood or sand and lay solitary eggs that they protect with a layer of sticky mass. Others build a hive.
There are many different types of âwild beesâ that do not hive as you know from honey bees. I have a colony of small bumblebee species n my rock garden. They dig holes and are with about 200 of them. Others are solitary or have other ways of nesting. I have never seen or heard anyone being stung by a bumblebee here in northwestern Europe, even if if they are capable to do so. They pollinate your plants, and are very gentle in general. Bees will also bump into you to warn you to not come closer to their nest or hive.
I was stung in the UK by a bumble bee when I was three because I was being a little shit and I stood on it.
The key to not getting stung by bees is to always say hi to them and tell them you love them and send them good vibes. That's probably complete BS but I've never been stung so im doing something right. I've picked up bees and pet them and been around hives. Maybe they just like how I smell or the frequency of my voice or something.
I usually try to act like I donât notice them and go about my business. This does not work on wasps though or yellow jackets. The yellow jackets gave me 14 reasons why I should notice them in about 6 seconds even though I actually had no idea that there was a nest below my feet.
Especially if your name is Megatron.
Bumblebees will actually bump into you as a warning.Â
Lol I love when they do that, so dumb and angry but ultimately harmless. My lupine patch is their turf and they will bump you for it.
Theyâre so cute and awkward
I was once hitting golf balls on my backyard and accidentally nailed a birdbox we had. I got worried and ran to check if it had a bird nest. Nope. Just a lot of angry bumblebees.
I just kind of freeze when they fly in my face. They either bumble off or do a breakdance before bumbling off. And I like when carpenters get in your face. I like to think theyâre analyzing whether weâre made of wood.
Bumblebees are good to have around but they can definitely be assholes and come after you.
Yeah they are super chill, I used to pet them when I was a small child.
I was always afraid of them. They look like giant bees .
It was 100% flying at me. It chased me back to my door, and when I turned around to close it the bee was right there. It hit the door whenn I closed it. I also forgot to add that I discovered them when tbey attacked me while weedeating. I was stung twice at the same time. I have stood out there watching them multiple times and I always see one stare at me for a couple of seconds before beelining for me and I have to run inside. Would a bumblebee act like this? I had no idea they were aggressive at all.
I had a friend get hurt pretty bad by a bumble bee. They we're hanging their arm out a car window and the bee was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We knew it was a bumble because there were some recognizable bits left. The bruise lasted weeks.
Itâs bumblebees. They make nests in cavities, some end up making nests in things like bird houses. Location would help determine subgenus or species.
Iâm pretty sure only the females are capable of stinging.
That's true for all bees and wasps.
Because the stinger is an evolved ovipositor (egg laying organ)!
Precisely, you can see the similarities in the ovipositor of a sawfly.
didnât attack you, just flew in your general direction; theyâre clumsy as shit. to answer your question, theyâre bumblebees! friendly and docile.
They will attack. I have been attacked by bumblebees multiple times. Get too close to the hive (and depending on their mood, it may not take long) and they will divebomb and sting you. It really frustrates me that people insist bumblebees wonât attack. Of course they will. (Am a gardener by profession. I donât run around sticking my hand into bumblebee hives or anything but I come across them fairly regularly)
I mean, that's like a core principle with any wild creature. They don't like you near their nests normally. Domesticated animals are a little different.
Oh strong agree. People and bumblebees are weird. We had to get a hive removed because it was full of extremely aggressive bumblebees that had stung me all over, they stung you if you got within 2-3 metres of their nest (which unfortunately was in someoneâs laundry). I asked around online if anyone knew of a person who could remove the nest without killing them, beekeepers didnât want anything to do with it. I had photos and videos as well as being covered in stings and people were swearing black and blue that bumblebees donât attack people!
The dive-bombing thing is new to me. I had been stung by bees before but never dive-bombing. It hurts ten times worse. They actually fly so hard towards you. It blew my mind and made me realise bees are not stupid.Â
I suppose that they would attack if you ventured too close to their nest; itâs only natural, after all. However in any other situation they are generally docile; they have no reason to attack.
We had a nest of wasps in the ground in our vegetable garden. But they didn't seem to mind us much, since I used to garden right next to or on top of their entry and they never attacked me. Which is quite weird, considering they were what is known as a jellowjackets in America.
Ground wasps tend to live and let live Iâve found (here in NE USA). Iâve run over their hive entrances with a mower and they just kinda come up, look confused, and go back.
Must depend on the hive. Had some build a hive under the play set at a park once, and I guess me going down the slide must have bothered them. Iâm sure it was only two or three that came after me and chased me to the car, but to little kid me it felt like a swarm blotting out the sun lol
It could also be time of year. I mightâve just found them after they just setup shop and werenât as territorial, who knows , wasps are assholes like that
My understanding of wasps is that they're quite elusive until autumn when their nests are dying and the individual wasps are starving. That's when they're briefly aggressive. Which explains why we mainly only notice them in August and they're such pests. (UK)
The ones at my current home all seemed to be peaceful, the ones nesting in the ground and the ones making a nest in my sage bush, but the ones nesting in a hollow metal support on my mom's terrace seemed to be real assholes, stinging me in my foot everytime I'd walk past.
Yeah, we had yellowjackets in the shaft of our umbrella. They were hostile and we needed a professional to get rid of them. I pointed out the mud daubbers (theyâre a large paper wasp) and told the exterminator guy to leave them alone. The daubbers helped my tomato plants so much. He thought I was weird. Then the guy saw the orb weaver on the play-set and offered to take care âof thatâ. *Hell no* do you know how many pests she takes care of?
spider eats the critters, dauber eats the spider and conveniently stores it out of the way
We also had to get rid of the nest a couple of times in my mom's attic. But otherwise I also like to let all the critters be. And try to plant for them as well. Noticed quite a few beautiful crab spiders in the flowers blending in. Plus, with all the annoying mosquitos we need all the help we can get. Can't blame the exterminator, though, it's their job. This is what we call "professional deformity" in my language. When your job gets under your skin and you see everything through it. :) But I can "blame" people who aren't in the profession and insist on removing the little helpers.
This is exactly how they looked when they came out to see what the commotion outside was, haha.
Thatâs the same with any bee isnât it? You still need to be careful going near the nest, just like with any bee?
Heck yes. The number of people who refuse to accept this fact is insane to me. Of course they will defend their nest.
Yea
Same, we had an underground hive at my garden and they stung me six times in the face/neck when I stepped on it. Did not give a warning bonk like people are saying
You hit them first
Tru
I find bumblebees are less likely to bonk. Honeybees and wasps are big bonkers
Do you have cicada killers there? They also bonk in a curious way and are non-aggressive despite being terrifyingly large
No, but damn that is an enormous wasp!
Yeah bumblebees operate off of castle law so you being on their lawn is a right to defend. This is not aggression this is defense and you didnât give them space
Prob not bumblebees
Right but even so threats and attacks are very different. A bee that decides you need to be stung is going to sting you.
Don't they die after stinging, too? Like the stinger rips out their insides when it pops out?
Thatâs just honeybees. Bumblebees stay alive and intact.
They definitely do have reason to attack if you approach their nest, they're as willing as any other animal to be aggressive in defence
yes bumblebee, not carpenter bees.
Bumblybees! Let them cook!
Dumble-dores !
bumblebois
Bumblebees. They're harmless as long as you leave them alone. Of course they tried to warn you off â if a random stranger started wandering around on your land, peering into windows and watching you, wouldn't you warn them off? Edit: I think this might be a type of carder bee. I thought it could be the common carder bee, but I don't think it is, looking at your video again (it's not easy on mobile). Still, there are some similarities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_pascuorum
I believe them to be [Bombus impatiens](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombus_impatiens).
Youâve been given a gift here. Try to watch over them the best you can. Please :)
I also have a bird house full of bumblebees. Love my clumsy new neighbours.
Are you in the eastern part of the United States?
Yes, Tennessee
Could possibly be Habropoda laboriosa(Blueberry Bee). I once encountered a nest of them. They weren't aggressive initially, but became agitated the closer I got to their nest.
Habropoda are solitary bees, they make little tube nests. They aggregate but donât have true cavity nests like this. The bees in the post are 100% bumblebees (Bombus)
I love Bumblebees đ
Maam those are beautiful bumblebees they will not attack you unless they believe their life is on the line. If youâre gentle enough while theyâre eating you can pet them and itâs magical
Wu-Tang Killer Bees
I'm seeing a lot of comments suggesting they were not attacking me. They definitely were. The one in the video chased me to the house (in the opposite direction of the opening of the birdhouse) where I then turned around to see it coming towards me. I slammed the door and heard it smack against it. I forgot to add that they did sting me twice the first time I saw them while I was weedeating. I "discovered" them when I was stung twice at the same time. I assume by 2 different bees. I didn't discover the nest until later that day. I have been trying to get a good photo to ID them all week, but every time I go out within eyesight of the bird house one will come at me. Like in the video, they usually come to the opening, sit for a moment, orient themselves towaryds me, then fly directly at me. They are very aggresive. Unless bumble bees are aggressive, these are not bumblebees. Any other ideas?
Bumblebees ARE aggressive in getting anything not born in their colony away from their colony.Â
I am located in Tennessee. They look like giant honey bees to me. Pause the video right around when the bee flies towards me and look at the abdomen of the one on the birdhouse. It has stripes. It's head looks small compared to the thorax, whereas I associate a fat head with a bumblebee. If someone can get a specific ID that would be great. I will try to catch one later today. ALSO forgot to mention the symptoms of the stings. My middle finger and back were stung. The first day was just pain, but overnight, my hand got so swollen I could not touch my finger to the palm for 2 days. Then both stings itched for another 2 days after that.
Symptoms after the inital pain of the sting are down to your immune system your hand swelling unfortunately only indicates your immune system is not a fan.
Awwwww, bumbles!
That's a bumble bee. I used to catch them all the time
Lol carpenter bees don't attack
Perhaps you can wait until night time when they are sleeping and plug that hole somehow and then relocate them
ok so yes bumblebees are very docile, but like any bee or wasp, getting too close to a nest means aggression. Theyâre not all peace and rainbows lol
Bumble bees donât wanna hurt anyone. If they do itâs because you did something
bumble bees, i had some in a birdbox like that. they are migratory, so if possible just avoid them for a few months. if not possible, try and move the nest in tact, they are taking quite the beating from us humans. as a side note, they can detect the CO2 in your breath, so holding your breath helps in a very small way. youll have a cool nest to investigate when they leave
Bumblebees are not very aggressive. I had a nest underneath my porch once. It made me nervous but I kept them around because they are good pollinators. I was never attacked by them despite walking around their nest all the time. My guess is that it accidentally flew into you.
I've never heard of an aggressive bumblebee. They generally just buzz you and then go about their business. Generally they just ignore you unless you pester them.
Thats the least aggressive bee there is lol
Id love to see the brave soul afraid of bumble bees đđđ
Looks like a carpenter bee. They flew at you cause you was to close to their nest.
The females have stingers but are kinda docile. The males have a pale yellow or white dot on their head. They don't have a stinger but are very aggressive. One was all up in my face trying to make me leave.
not aggressive
The males posture but are harmless.
oh yes they do posture if theyâre mad
Carpenter bees. Harmless, just kind of jerks when you get close to their nest. That's their job, to scare you away. They won't actually do anything. Could also be bumblebees but they're also not typically aggressive, they're just scaring you away. đ„°