In the September 2008 issue of "Wildlife in North Carolina" is an article by Clyde E. Sorenson, a professor of entomology at NCSU, "Plight of the Honeybee, Flight of the Bumblebee". Professor Sorenson writes about the different types of bees - 300 to 400 species of native bees in North Carolina - honey bees, carpenter bees, digger bees, leaf-cutter bees, bumblebees, sweat bees - just to name a few.
Carpenter bees, which resemble bumblebees, are noted for excavating small round holes in houses or other wooden buildings, in addition to gathering pollen. Their tunneling rarely does any damage.
This bee is covered in pollen.
