Pollination powerhouse, not pest: meet the carpenter bee
Posted onSeptember 24, 2025byAnnika Wilcox|Bumble Bee Recovery, Bumble Bees, Native Pollinator Initiative, News and Events, Pollinators, Yellow Banded BumblebeeCarpenter bee (Photo: A. Wilcox)
What is the Bumble Bee Recovery Program? Since the 1990s, bumble bee numbers have been plummeting, and that spells ecological disaster. Ninety per cent of all flowering plants — including most of the fruits and vegetables in your fridge — need these pollinators in order to reproduce.
Until the causes of these declines can be reversed, conservation breeding and reintroduction is the only way to safeguard at-risk bumble bees. Today, WPC is the only organization in Canada rebuilding wild bee populations through conservation breeding. Thanks to recent breakthroughs, we’ve figured out how to dramatically increase the number of queens we produce. Once they’re released into the wild, they can establish their own colonies, producing hundreds of pollinators to sustain the ecosystems around them.
Ever found a perfectly circular, dime-sized hole on a fencepost, and wondered what could have possibly made it? Chances are, the culprit wasn’t a woodpecker or termites, but a bee – specifically, a carpenter bee. These large, buzzing, bumble-looking bees are a fascinating (and sometimes misunderstood) part of our local ecosystem.
Carpenter bee (left) vs bumble bee (right). Photos by A. Wilcox.
Carpenter Bees vs. Bumble Bees: How to Tell the Difference
- Shiny “Butts”: Bumble bees are fuzzy all over, including their abdomens, which are covered in dense, often black or yellow hairs. Carpenter bees, on the other hand, have smooth, shiny, almost metallic-looking abdomens with little to no hair.
- Nesting Habits: Bumble bees live in colonies, usually in small underground nests, while carpenter bees are mostly solitary. Female carpenter bees carve out tunnels in untreated wood to lay their eggs – not because they eat the wood, but because it makes a safe nursery for their young.
- Behaviour: Carpenter bees are often seen hovering around decks, sheds, or eaves in spring as males patrol for mates. These males are protective of females, their nests, and even nearby flowers – pay enough attention and you might even see a carpenter bee scare other insects away from flowers, leaving more food for his mate! While they can look intimidating, they are mostly harmless; the males can’t sting at all, and females only do so if directly threatened.
Carpenter bees sometimes get a bad reputation for drilling into porches or fence posts, but their role as important pollinators of wild and cultivated plants far outweighs the nuisance. Like bumble bees, they’re strong enough to perform buzz pollination by holding onto a flower and vibrating their bodies to shake loose pollen that smaller bees can’t access. This makes them vital partners for plants like tomatoes, peppers, and blueberries, along with countless native wildflowers.
But what about the wood? While carpenter bees do nest in wood, they prefer untreated, unpainted, or weathered lumber. Painted or sealed wood is usually left alone. If you see a few carpenter bees around your home, it doesn’t mean they’re destroying your house – in fact, their impact is often overstated. In natural settings, they would nest in dead trees and fallen logs; human structures are simply stand-ins for their preferred habitat.
Carpenter bee. Photo by A. Wilcox.
The good news is that it’s easy to share space with carpenter bees once you understand a little about them. If you’d rather not have them nesting in your deck or shed, the simplest solution is to paint or seal exposed wood (before they move in for the season!), since they strongly prefer bare surfaces. You can also offer alternative nesting habitat by leaving old logs or stumps in a quiet corner of your yard, or even setting up a bee hotel designed for solitary bees. Creating a pollinator-friendly garden full of native wildflowers will not only keep carpenter bees busy, but will also benefit butterflies, bumble bees, and countless other beneficial insects.
Carpenter bees are a reminder that even the creatures we sometimes mistake for pests are ones we ultimately depend on. So the next time one zips past with that unmistakable helicopter buzz, take a closer look. That big, beautiful bee isn’t a nuisance at all – it’s a hardworking native pollinator, quietly helping our gardens and ecosystems flourish.
Annika Wilcox
Ontario Programs Coordinator – Bumble Bee Recovery Program
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