Last week I saw a huge bee. It looked like a bee and flew like a bee, but, was every bit of 2"-2.5" long and up to 1/2" wide(not including the wings). I've never seen one this big. The best way to describe it is make a honey be very very big and slightly elongated. Anyone have any idea what type of bee this was? There's the possibility that it could have been some other insect that looks like a bee. Which, in that case, what the heck is it still?

 

Look something like this?
http://ts2.images.live.com/images/th...8b67bb582ae104


http://ts2.images.live.com/images/th...716732555d1248

 

If so, it's your average, everyday bumble bee (bombus terrestris). Don't worry, they aren't as aggressive as hornets, but will sting if their nest is threatened.

 

was it a Cicada Killer wasp??


http://forsyth.ces.ncsu.edu/content/cicada-killer

 

Sounds like a Carpenter Bee



They are HUGE, and a few of these flying around sound like a squadron of B-17s .

 

I have seen "Bee sized" hummingbirds, freaked me out the first time I saw one, I did not know they came that small. About 3 times the size of a bee or so.

 

...this is giving me the frick'n *******. I hate bees.

 

Suuuuuure TOP.........

Been sippin' the Purple Kool-Aid again?

 

Did it look like this?

 

I second the carpenter bee.

 

The markings and shape of the Cicada Killer wasp are the closest of those in the pics above. I thought the legs were more black in color, but, it wasn't it's legs that I was worried about at the time. Actually, it was pretty docile and I could get within about 5 ft of it. It was slowly flying, and sometimes hovering, about 1 ft above the grass in the front yard of this house I was working on. It looked like it was "hunting" for something and almost covered the whole area of the front. It spent about 5 min in the front then flew off quickly.

 

I searched on the internet for the Cicada Killer wasp and from the tons of pics and info, it appears that what I saw was indeed an Eastern Cicada Killer wasp, probably a female. Thanks for the pics everyone, and, thanks graphitecumnz for pointing me in the right direction with that pic of the Cicada Killer.

 

Carpenter bee I bet. Y'all ever seen the perfect hole they can leave

 

I hate those cicada killers....give me the creeps

 

Yes they drill holes in the bottom side of the cross supports of our privacy fence. You can tell where they are by the pile of sawdust.

I think he has seen Cicada killers though...

Yep it was a Cicada Killer then. That is their behavior. We have a bunch of them around here and my neighbor got stung by one once and said it was pretty painful.

Hub