Hi all,
We have a couple of these guys living in a small hole in a dead gum tree branch in the backyard in eastern Sydney. He’s about 15 mm long and I assume he’s some kind of carpenter bee. Can anyone be more specific?
Cheers
Ron
4 Likes
It does look like a carpenter bee but the stripes are not on the green carpenter bee I’ve seen here on Kangaroo Island SA
3 Likes
Not being from your neck of the woods, I couldn’t say specifically - but I love seeing both of those beautiful bees, thanks for posting! The carpenter bees here will make a fairly perfect round hole in wood posts and such, and they seem to store a paste of nectar, pollen and wax inside as food.
2 Likes
Ok Ron I have an ID for you
It is a male green carpenter bee which are now only found on Kangaroo Island and around Sydney.
It has become extinct on mainland SA and in Victoria all thanks to mankind destroying habitat via land clearing and fire etc.
Richard Glatz Lives on Kangaroo Island and is an expert in the field of insects…he identified it for me
Regards Brian
4 Likes
Thanks Brian.
I was lying in a Hammock under its hole the other day and kept getting showered with sawdust.
They never stay still. I only got those photos because I think that one was at the end of its life.
There are 2 living in the hole … That we know of.
Thanks again
1 Like
I’m sure I saw one or 2 of those on our land, quite near our house. Hubby didn’t believe it’s a bee, he thought it’s a blow fly, but he never saw it foraging as I did. I’m quite certain it’s the same. Northern NSW. We are surrounded by NP, so maybe there is habitat here.
I think I took a photo too, just have to find it.
Should be time for them to come out, so will take a new pic.
2 Likes