"Nelly Wensdow" wrote in message
...
I have these little blackish bees in the outside of the house, I guess
maybe
6mm long or so. I think they must be pretty common because I've seen them
so
many places before. They get into the little squarish holes between panels
in the wood siding. They seem indifferent to my presence & pretty much
just
go about their business. Do the bees make the holes themselves or do they
just exploit the flaws? Seems like a bee would chew a rounder shape. Are
they very damaging?

The carpenter bees that I have in Maryland create perfectly round holes
about 1/2" in diameter. The first time I saw the holes, I was sure they
were made by a drill until I saw the bees (they look much like bumblebees)
actually chew their way through the wood. Could be that yours have ingested
some sort of toxin. I know that some chemicals cause spiders to weave very
irregular webs. Just a guess, though.

The bees I have seemed to be most fond of an untreated, unpainted 2x3 brace
I had put up in the front porch overhang. Eventually I'll take it down and
saw it lengthwise to see what they did inside the piece of wood. They made
a number of holes all along the length of the board, which I assume are
internally connected.

They are nowhere near as damaging as termites, which consume wood as food.
Carpenter bees just drill out enough wood to make their nest in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpenter_bees

--
Bobby G.