Eastern carpenter bee

Mating happens only once a year, in the spring, and often includes a bobbing dance by a group of males.1

The bees can recognise each other and show more aggression toward bees from other nests than toward their own nestmates.1

Young bees are white when newly emerged and their wings darken over several days, first to brown and then to a bluish black.1

Dominant females do almost all the work in a nest, including reproduction, foraging and building, while subordinate bees mostly guard the nest.1

Old bees die by early August, around the time that new young bees emerge, so there is little overlap between generations.1