Meet the Pollinators–Eastern Carpenter Bee

The Eastern Carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) is one of our native bees found throughout much of North America east of the Rockies. It nests in wood as semi-social colonies–not solitary, but not in large colonies like honeybees. Carpenter bees are of similar size and look superficially much like bumble bees. This bee feeds mostly on nectar and pollen. It pollinates a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops as well as native wildflowers, like these Virginia bluebells growing in our home landscape here in the Arkansas Ozarks.