A Gentle Giant in Your Garden ~ Violet Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea)

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🔽 License the footage here:
https://1url.cz/F1KJ3
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So, we have a new reason for panic! 💣

As soon as the deadly oil beetles disappeared, people started worrying about "black hornets" that must have flown in from Asia and are about to kill us all ☠️

I guess you all suspect that the scary porridge won't be so hot after all. Let's try to allay those fears a little and meet the cute carpenter bee.

The violet carpenter bee is a solitary bee. Its size is impressive and from a distance it really can resemble a hornet or a large bumblebee, the sound of their buzzing is virtually indistinguishable. However, carpenter bees are perfectly peaceful creatures and important pollinators, most often found in warm areas with plenty of dead wood. There, these shiny beauties dig long tunnels for their larvae to develop. Besides steppes and light forests, I often see them in villages near old barns, which can at least partially compensate for the lack of dead wood in nature 🛖

And what about those reasons to panic? 🫢

Let's not pretend that carpenter bees are completely defenseless. They have a stinger and can sting painfully if threatened - just like a bee or a bumblebee. But hardly anyone's afraid of bumblebees, are they? So there's no need to be scared of carpenter bees either. Just follow two rules that I'm sure you could have made up yourself: don't catch them in your hand and don't destroy their nests.
Telling the difference between the carpenter bee and the invasive Asian hornet is simple. You won't find anything yellow on the body of the carpenter bee, and its wings have a distinctive blue-purple metallic sheen. There's nothing shiny about the hornet though, let alone blue. And even the Asian hornet, which is much darker than the European hornet, is still quite yellowish. So no more unfortunate mix-ups, groundless fears or even killing of innocent woodpeckers in the name of conservation ☝️

If you've never met these beauties and would like to, I'll impart a layman's trick - lurk near pink or purple flowering plants. I don't have a scientific explanation, but it works. And say hi to the carpenter bees for me, I have a soft spot for them 🥹

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✿ Species
Violet carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea)

✿ Location and date
South Moravia, Czechia | 2020/2022

✿ Equipment
Panasonic GH5S
Panasonic GH6
Sigma 150-600
Sigma 60-600
Viltrox Extension Tubes

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Violet carpenter bee | Xylocopa violacea |
Drvodělka fialová | Große Blaue Holzbiene |
xylocope violet | abejorro carpintero europeo |
ape legnaiola | Пчела-пло́тник фиоле́товая

#europeanwildlife #carpenterbee #xylocopa