Request for photos of early spring (late winter) bees

I moved about 2 years ago to a house that has an old, stockade fence. the Carpenter Bees became active in early March. We had significant snow in March this year, as well as bitter cold days, in the single digits Fahrenhiet. I see firsthand how they got their names, as small round holes that become tunnels abonud, especially on the fence posts. Yet some tunneled in the gate post and when the gate is closed, the space is too tight for the adults to exit. I found several that died halfway out of the hole, due to inadequate exit space.

I experimented with a method to seal the holes in the gates to prevent these needless deaths. I know their pupae are in the tunnel, but they also would not be able to exit. I only had Scotch frosted tape. I sealed each gate posts' hole by with one strip vertically, and another horizontally over it. There were few bees as it was cold. But in one taped hole, the taped over opening had been neatly removed, opening just the entrance/exit hole perfectly. The rest of the tape on that post was untouched. I decided to remove all tape from all holes, as I am not knowledgeable about this species.
Finally, in early May I found 10 Carpenter Bees in a group on the ground, near a fence post, all dead.
I live in Bristol County in the town of Warren, Rhode island, much of which is on the East side of the shoreline of Narragansett Bay. I've never visited this section before, so I hope my comments are appropriate here.

… Marcia A. Sessions, 26 May, 2016 - 5:36pm

Bombus on Willow

Got a whole pile of insects on willows last spring, but interestingly virtually all are syrphids. Do have 3 shots of one Bombus - thought it might be melanopygus, but could be wrong. Not the best shots because it was pretty high up. If you're interested I'll post - if so, do you want it under Bombus or Hymenoptera?

… Libby & Rick Avis, 31 January, 2011 - 12:14pm

Plain old honeybees

Today I got shots of bees on manzanita and two herbaceous plants, but I'm afraid they're just A. mellifera, which has been here all winter whenever it was sunny and is already overrepresented in BugGuide. Are you interested in those?

… R. Berg, 24 January, 2011 - 9:56pm

Thanks for looking

but no need to post honey bee images

I'm interested in any of the other species. They should be present if flowers are blooming.

… John S. Ascher, 25 January, 2011 - 1:39pm