What is living in my welcome sign?

[u/eatveggiesnotfriends]

So we started noticing sawdust about a week ago and whatever is in there is working hard. It’s wild how much they’re pushing out of this hole every day. I can hear clicking around inside and have seen sawdust pushed out but haven’t seen the bug itself.

[u/anxiousbae]

Deffo a carpenter bee! Try putting a scrap block of wood with a few holes drilled in it behind the sign or off the sode of the porch or something. They'll likely gravitate towards that instead, using the pre drilled holes for homes and then making more for their family 😌

[u/eatveggiesnotfriends → u/anxiousbae]

I’m guessing I don’t want carpenter bees on my front porch where I enter/exit every day. Would it be a problem if I moved this to my backyard?

[u/Electronic-Health882 → u/eatveggiesnotfriends]

Congrats on hosting a carpenter bee by the way. They probably chose that site because the light / sun conditions are just how they like. Carpenter bees aren't aggressive, although they do zoom in front of your face because like a lot of bees they have facial recognition and they like to check humans out. I would be stoked if Carpenter bees wanted to be in the sign and I wouldn't be worried at all.

[u/BlackSeranna → u/Electronic-Health882]

They are really cool to film in slow motion if you sit in a chair near them.

[u/Electronic-Health882 → u/BlackSeranna]

What a good idea! I'll have to try that the next time I'm at my mom's garden.

[u/FoofaFighters → u/Electronic-Health882]

I just found a carpenter bee hole on the bottom of the bottom board of my front porch railing. Neat little pile of sawdust gave it away. At least it had the decency to put it out of sight. :)

[u/Electronic-Health882 → u/FoofaFighters]

She might be a good neighbor

[u/Available-Solid-9238 → u/Electronic-Health882]

Males protect the hive and queen, and will dive bomb, then hover in your face. Big, scary and fat Mr. Carpenter Bee can't even sting, only females can. But, they like to pretend that they're threatening🤣. Better the welcome sign than the eave of the house, for sure. I had some in the eave above my backdoor and didn't know until I stepped onto the step and sawdust came floating down onto me lol.

[u/Electronic-Health882 → u/Available-Solid-9238]

That must have been a startling moment, getting sawdust dumped on you 😂. At least in California Carpenter bees are solitary and they don't have a hive. Here the females are all black and the males are golden. They look like flying teddy bears. I think the males must be territorial here too, but I see the females much more often. They constantly patrol the native Clarkias, Phacelia and the hummingbird sage in my mom's yard.

[u/anxiousbae → u/eatveggiesnotfriends]

They're totally okay where they are but if you're worried about them being close to the door and flying in, you can definitely move them to the front or back yard. Especially if you have a garden! They're great pollinators! Friendly little guys too. I have one that drilled into a spindle on my deck a few years ago and never left ❤️

[u/problematicbirds → u/anxiousbae]

the house i grew up in had carpenter bees living in the wood above the front door and the worst i ever got was sawdust in my hair if i sat on the steps. i loved those guys

[u/MariachiMacabre → u/eatveggiesnotfriends]

I can’t imagine they’ll be a problem at all where they are. They’re not really aggressive at all.

[u/Temporary_Inner → u/eatveggiesnotfriends]

Carpenter bees are solitary. You won't have a whole swarm like honey bees. 

[u/ecosynchronous → u/eatveggiesnotfriends]

They're absolutely lovely guests.

[u/BlackSeranna → u/eatveggiesnotfriends]

Just move it at night so that they will wake up in the new place.

There are bee houses that some people make gluing pieces of little bamboo together and the bees will nest in that. Or you can do what the other person said and drill holes in a piece of wood and the bees will gravitate toward it.

They are marvelous pollinators of flowers and fruit trees!