Eastern Carpenter Bee
Xylocopa virginica
Eastern Carpenter Bee · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 12 July 2025
An Eastern Carpenter Bee on a flower in the July border, the big black bee of the eastern United States that nests in bare wood - the porch rail, the fence post, the dead branch - and forages on almost anything.
Often mistaken for a bumblebee, but the shiny, hairless black abdomen is the tell; bumblebees are furred all over. Named for the female's habit of excavating nest tunnels in untreated wood. The tunnels rarely cause structural damage, but the same one gets reused and extended year after year if it isn't repaired, and a porch rail can end up honeycombed.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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