Fuzzy Bees

Yes, that's what I have to call them since I know so little about bees. I don't think I've ever even seen a field guide to bees or insects, but I assume they exist. I own a few other guides, one about mushrooms, one about seashells, one about trees and a bunch about birds.

These fuzzy bees worry me. This is the third time I've seen one of them either dead or dragging itself slowly across the sidewalk. I wonder if this is an aspect of their life cycle or if I've killed them with my cel phone usage. I wonder if any of the field guides I don't have say anything about that. Maybe they are good at playing dead like pill bugs.

Once when we got home to Brooklyn from vacation I noticed a hole in our backdoor which looked like it had been drilled with a 1/2 inch drill bit aimed at our lock. I called the police who came over and couldn't make sense of it. We stood around the kitchen, clueless, wondering who would try to break in a house like that.

Somehow we later figured out that it was a carpenter bee, a bee I've grown to have tons of respect for. Like the one pictured above, they are a fuzzy variety, but larger, and very wily.