The big orange bee (we call them Bob) are Valley Carpenter Bees (male) . The females are shiny black with few hairs. The standard Carpenter Bee is fuzzy and black. This applies to the SF Bay Area. Don't know about other areas. Cheers, Bracey San Jose CA -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Waterman Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 12:30 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] Bulb fly season has begun Perhaps this is a carpenter bee. They've been around here(Oakland) for a couple of weeks this year. The ones I see are not fuzzy and fly much more quickly than a bumblebee. Liz W Max Withers wrote: > Oh no. I just spotted what I thought was a giant (~1") all-black > bumblebee a few miles south of Nhu. Has anyone seen a yellow-free color > form of M. equestris before? > > Max Withers > Oakland CA > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > >