They’re Valley Carpenter Bees, a little bit north of their usual territory in SoCal.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/01/HOGU86BSRR1.DTL
Finally! I’ve found a real explanation for my new all-orange carpenter bees.
I first saw my BOBs earlier this spring, hovering exactly as described over some of my flowering bushes. It took about a week to confirm that there are two rather than just one, but less than that to realize that they are carpenter bees. I saw them entering and exiting the various nest holes in the bottle brush tree. As it turns out, their mates live there too–I’m guessing that my biggest black ones are the female Valley Carpenter Bees.
I love the soap operatic element of carpenter bee life in my yard. A couple of weeks ago, I watched one bee yank another bee out of a nest. This afternoon, I listened to at least 2 bees buzzing *inside* one of the nests. And watched one bee endlessly circle the bottle brush trunk over and over again, occasionally taking one or two chomps out of incipient nests.
I should make up a story about what they’re all doing, Meerkat Manor style.
