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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees » Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees (Apidae) » Carpenter and Small carpenter Bees (Xylocopinae) » Large Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa) » Subgenus Neoxylocopa (Xylocopa Subgenus Neoxylocopa) » Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa sonorina)
Photo#217057
Carpenter Bee in Flight - Xylocopa sonorina - male
Copyright © 2008 iNaturalist

Carpenter Bee in Flight - Xylocopa sonorina - Male
Los Gatos, Oka Percolation Ponds, Santa Clara County, California, USA
March 23, 2007
Size: ~20-25 mm
These big chubby guys come out in the spring and fly around in the willows where Coyote Creek flows into the percolation ponds. In Sunnyvale I find them in the Coyote Brush at the WPC ponds. They seem to have a short flight season -- a couple of weeks and they're gone. The females are all black.
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Contributed by iNaturalist on 23 August, 2008 - 12:37pm
Last updated 23 July, 2010 - 4:31pm

northern california?
Hey all,

Can carpenter bees (like the one shown) show up in Northern California? I thought they were native to Southern California, but I'm pretty sure I saw one of these guys in my backyard today.

Any insight would be appreciated! If he's still out there, I'll try to snap a picture.
… deborah rotenberg, 31 August, 2008 - 3:49pm login or register to post comments

 
How north?
As the above description says, I see them in two places in the Bay Area. We consider this "northern" Cal, but, of course, it's another 300+ miles to Oregon.
… iNaturalist, 31 August, 2008 - 7:15pm login or register to post comments

Wow!!
Phenomenal photo... makes me wonder how you got it. MF/AF, Camera, etc?
… Lee Brock, 23 August, 2008 - 2:14pm login or register to post comments

 
How I got the shot...
My flight shots are obtained by shooting all manual in fast bursts, here with a Nikon D2X at max rate, about 8/sec. This is the technique I use on dragonflies: http://www.pbase.com/inaturalist/dragonflies. The glider on this page was gotten with a D300, which shoots at only about 4/sec.
… iNaturalist, 23 August, 2008 - 6:13pm login or register to post comments

 
Manual focus
So you used manual focus to follow this guy?

What lens?
… Stephen Hart, 23 August, 2008 - 6:55pm login or register to post comments

 
Carpenter Bee shot
All manual EV and focus. I pre-focus at about 3-4 feet and wait for them to come into that range, then shoot bursts. Usually I use a 200mm lens, but this was a 105. Don't expect more than about one percent keepers this way.
… iNaturalist, 28 August, 2008 - 11:34am login or register to post comments

ID
This is the male of the Valley Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa varipuncta. They seem to lazily patrol territories, never failing to attract attention when they do.
… Andy Calderwood, 23 August, 2008 - 1:24pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks...
Wow, not even a bumblebee! I wasn't aware of the existence of subfamily, Xylocopinae. I'd heard of Golden Bumblebees and figured this was one of them. I am glad to learn about Carpenter Bees, Thanks.
… iNaturalist, 23 August, 2008 - 6:17pm login or register to post comments

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