We have those same exact bugs, Teresa, we call them Helicopter bugs. lol I don't know what they are, though. We've never been stung by one, and sometimes when they're really annoying, I've taken a swat at it and connected, they usually fly off for a bit and then come right back. Not aggressive, but persistent. They drive our dog Shanzie crazy, she tries to catch them in her mouth. Kind of black and yellow, slenderish, loud in their buzzing.... same bug?

We have had them here in CA for years and never have been stung. They are annoying though. And it is usually only when we are having lunch on the deck.
Clare

We have them too, and they burrow into our patio cover to make their homes, which are deep channels in the wood. I cannot seem to get rid of them.

We also have carpenter bees, but the one I was talking is not that.... We have holes in some pressure treated wood from carpenter bees, they're really tough!

OK, did some googling, this sounds exactly like what we have-

Most hovering insects one encounters are not bees, but flies of some kind, especially the hover flies or flower flies in the family Syrphidae. Milesia virginiensis is one of the more common, large species that does this, so you might start there (it has no common name, sorry). In some parts of the country it is called the "news bee" because it sometimes hovers in front of people's faces like it is "giving them the news." They are completely harmless.

Also, some say they are good luck, if you are buzzed! :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's a photo...

If it has a shiny behind and a sort of white spot on it's face, it is a male carpenter bee. They guard their territory and hover waiting for a female bee to come along so they can ambush and mate with her.

Try tossing a small pebble or something in the air near it, it will chase it! They often chase shadows of birds and things as well.

We have one that comes right up and peers into your face. "Are you a bee?". As far as I know they do not really sting, and your daughter is fine.

If you happen to see any near flowers, notice that they are lazy and often poke through the side of the flower to sip the nectar, rather than crawl inside the blossom. That is why they are not considered good polinators.

"Any ideas how to fix this or get rid of the bee?"

It has been our experience that carpenter bees will not burrow into stained or treated wood.

They will burrow and can damage the wood....

We have some near our house, but it's because we have lots of cedar trees. They are are annoying and we hate them, but whatcha gonna do?
:-)

Once I found out the males (that hover to protect the nest) don't have stingers, I felt MUCH better! LOL! They are very hard to get rid of because they bore into the wood and then make a right turn (or left?), so you can't just spray or poke something into the hole and expect to run them out.

Bottom line...wherever you have one hovering, there is a nest very nearby. You'll recognize it because it is a perfectly round hole (looks like it was done with a drill!) about the diameter of your finger.

And yes, they are horribly destructive.

I too have a hovering bumblebee.....and I keep a raquetball raquet to swat the lil bugger dead. Of course I rarely make contact. Its true that they dont like treated lumber. Half of my carport is treated lumber...and they never go over there...the other half which is near the door was left untreated, and he makes holes all over it. Im glad to know he has no stinger.

Dances-I threw something near him today and he did go right after it just like you said! Well I'm glad to know they don't sting, but I still don't like DD being out there with him.

Our deck is half composite wood (Trex) and the pillars are regular wood. I hope it's not carpenter bees, as we had those at a different house and they were eating away the wood-You could hear it through the walls like it was going to break on through-SCARY!

I'll have to check and see if I see holes. I've seen a few wasps out there at other times that looked like they were going underneath the deck (and doing who knows what??)

OMG! We have about 5 holes with sawdust along one side of our roof with them. Does anyone think they can bore into the house? We have left them alone for the last 2 years, but it may be time to call exterminators. We have stained wood on our home.

Thx
D

They are harmless, I have one hovering near my mailbox and I watched it go after other bugs like wasps. No idea why he spends so much energy hovering in a spot.

Amazing mystery of nature.

I had one of the giant black and yellow bumble bees chase me down, latch onto my face below my eye and sting the heck out of me and it would not turn loose. My husband had to grab it and forcibly rip it off of my face. I was trying to make it to the pool to jump in but it flew past me and circled and attacked me. It was a bad experience. I have no idea what possessed it to come after me I was no where near it. There were other people in the yard too. So not all big bumble bees are harmless! It hurt bad.

This is a good link to the differences in the bees and information about those carpenter bees. We used to have lots of them in the barn when I was young.

https://bestbeebrothers.com/blogs/blog/black-bees-how-to-differentiate-a-bumble-bee-vs-carpenter-bee

I agree with u.we also have a bumblebee that hovers by our front porch. We go outside ands it hovers like 3 ft away. Never gets to close. We also do not have any bush's or anything by porch. I have noticed the bumblebees chase the wasp away. Which I Like

Male carpenter bees (or male any kind of bee) cannot sting but they are bossy little things. The females can sting but are very loath to do so and are rarely seen. However, she cannot be called harmless when you consider damage she can do to outdoor wooden structures.

If there are several males swooping around, then the females are nearby.

Carpenter bees are annoying and amusing. My German Shepherds spend many hours catching and mutilating them. Today I was down at our kennel hanging with the pack and took off my boots to remove a rock. A carpenter bee found my multi colored sock interesting and landed on my foot and was plucking away at my sock lol. One of my GSDs, Andra was astounded that I let this thing just hang out on my foot! She finally jumped up and almost took off my toe trying to obliterate the offender!

Carpenter bees hang around the front of the garage at our old house. The males, which can be distinguished by a white spot on their head, hover and guard the nest. However it is bluster, since they cannot sting. The females fly out gather food, and return to the nest.

I'm usually phobic of flying, buzzing, potentially stinging insects, but when the carpenter bee males start bothering me, I pick of a 1/2 dowel, focus carefully and knock them out of the air, and then stomp their buzzing little bodies.

After whacking a few of them, the remaining ones don't seem to bother me.

Wow. This stomping and smacking makes me really sad. Yes, we replaced our wooden porch railing with vinyl and the porch boards with trex.

We were pestered by the carpenter bees for several years, tried everything to get rid of them. Nothing helped but in my research, I found an answer. You must put pieces of cotton balls which have been soaked in alcohol in the existing holes they have made. My DH used long tweezers to insert the cotton in the evening when the bees were away. Oh, how angry they were! We could hear them buzzing all over in the back part of the house. But they finally left. We go through the same procedure every year now when they revisit their 'holes'. It was strange that they were so fond of the patio cover on one side of the house but ignored the same setup on the other side of the house.

Iris, it is sad because they are remarkable creatures. Tenacious and curiously beautiful. And make such perfect round holes while producing steady streams of sawdust!

Same here!! Mine hovers and looks in my windows. When I’m outside he hovers and stares at me. I don’t know how long bees live, but he’s here every year.

JeCrigler, your bee is from a new generation every year.

Iris, agree with you about the stomping and smacking (and killing!)

I found this informative link:

http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/carpenter-bees

Our siding is wood. I've seen these colorful carpenter bees about and enjoy watching them. There are lots of woods around us and also dead trees and firewood. I hope that they are not tunneling into our house. I'll have to look through binoculars to examine the higher parts of the all wood house.

Bonanza! Some very interesting videos about carpenter bees. Here is an excellent one about the nesting chambers, cells, larvae and development of the eastern carpenter bee. The intelligent comments are worth reading. Enjoy!

Apologies to those upset by my post above. My efforts have certainly not been aimed at exterminating all of the Carpenter Bees, it was only when the hovering, buzzing cloud of bees in front of the garage grew so numerous that it wasn't possible to get into the garage without one or more threatening, dive-bombing and chasing me, that I would find a small straight stick and and swing it at the hovering, threatening male bees. Even then, even with careful focusing and aiming, it might take dozens of missed swings before one does connect. Often times the bees seem to decide "this guy's crazy" and fly off on their own before I connect with any and I'm fine with that result. I considering it "sporting" to choose a method with such a low probability of killing one.

I consider my method less harmful to the species than those further up-thread who use a tennis racket, where every swing likely results in a hit and a kill. And much less harmful than stuffing an alcohol soaked cottonball into their hole. which will condemn the developing larvae in the nest to a slow death by starvation and likely will kill the female through poisoning as she tries to chew her way through the cottonball to reach her family. And I consider stomping them after hitting them a quick merciful death as opposed to leaving them buzzing and injured and unable to fly, where they may slowly die from their injuries or be eaten alive by ever-present, opportunistic ants.

I much prefer not killing, but when it is necessary I feel it should be as humane as possible. Some of the objections here seem similar to those who object to using a snap-trap on mice, who instead advocate using either poison bait which results in the mouse being just as dead, but also may result in a predator species, a cat, a fox, an owl or another raptor, being sickened or killed; or using the sticky glue traps, that result in a slow, protracted, agonizing death that seems straight out of the dark ages.

Ravencajun I was always told that bumblebees weren't aggressive!

I was once attacked by a swarm of bees (don't know what kind, but not bumblebees) that came pouring out of a hole in the side of the house we were renting -- all I had done was walk past on my way from the car to the door. The bee exterminator that I called said that the red & white striped T shirt that I was wearing likely provoked them -- can you believe that?

Carpenter bees have never been aggressive toward me. Hornets are a different matter. Walked too close by their hive once. Watched the carpenter bees happily pollinating my apple tree and raspberries yesterday. They were the only ones out in the cooler weather. I do understand having insects not take your house apart though. We did have to have a termite treatment about ten years ago.

Using the alcohol-soaked balls at the first sign of the carpenter bees is not likely to cause harm and I never saw one try to 'chew' its' way through, they would only be furious!

Couple of things I have learned about the "hovering bee". They leave me alone once I come out and they give me a quick buzz but they will chase anything that flies into "their zone" until it leaves. The males can't sting but the females can but you rarely see them. I read somewhere that the male is protecting the nest, where the female lays her eggs. Here is some of the info I found:

Nesting and Mating Habits

When the carpenter bees first emerge in the spring they have about 2-3 weeks to find a mate. Once a carpenter bee finds a mate, enough food and the perfect nesting area during the spring, they will burrow into the wood to create a hole and nesting galleries for the female to lay eggs. The female carpenter bee, the lead nest engineer, is identifiable by her solid black head. During that time the male carpenter bee hovers in the front of the nest guarding it against other male bees. The male carpenter bees are identifiable by the yellow dot on their forehead.

The male carpenter bees sole job is to protect their staked out territory from other carpenter bees and predators. If you have ever noticed a carpenter bee dive-bombing your head when you’ve gotten close to a nest it is without a doubt the male. The female will spend all of her time in the construction of the nest and producing the young -- the nest may be as big as 2 – 4 feet per season!

Once the adult female and male have finished their task of creating offspring and protecting them in the nests, they will naturally die inside the nest.

Nests Can House Multiple Generations

Over time, their nests can house multiple generations and can cause serious damage. Along with that, the holes attract hungry woodpeckers and rotting fungi. Don’t wait for spring to control and eliminate carpenter bees, they use the holes year round and tend to spend the winter in them.