A friend of mine asked me to look at some bees in his yard. I never saw anything like them before. I attached a picture, hopefully you can see the bee in the bottom right. They are not honeybees or Yellowjackets. There were hundreds of these bees flying just above the ground on a small ridge near a drainage ditch. They were not aggressive. What are they?

Those are mining bees, Andrenid species. Very common in the spring. We have hundreds of species of ground nesting solitary bees in North Carolina. Mining bees are important pollinators of our early crops like fruit trees. They do not sting and will re-se nesting sites if suitable. — debbie.roos@chathamnc.org

SIMILARLY:

I have discovered a colony of bees that look very similar to honey bees in one of my sheep pastures underneath a tree where the sheep enjoy lounging. The bees are not particularly aggressive since I walked through the middle of them before I knew it (definitely not yellow jackets). Their bodies seem to be slightly darker that honey bees and maybe a bit smaller and faster. It was very hard to see one still. They go into a multitude of small holes in the ground in an area 10-12 feet in diameter (or more, hard to get a fix on the edges).

I have several questions. Does anyone know what kind of bees these are? Will their colony continue to expand? Will they cause any harm to my sheep if I put them in that field and they decide to hang out under that tree?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Margaret near Apex

Very soon the pollen gathering of the mining bees will end and you won't notice any activity above ground. There are different species that are active at different times. Some Andrenid species are already done collecting pollen. I have been monitoring the progress of a nesting site in Chapel Hill and as of last weekend they were done. The little piles of excavated soil will melt back into the ground with rains. But underground, the larvae are developing throughout the summer and then will pupate and overwinter and emerge next spring. They will often re-use the same nest sites. Mining bees are important pollinators of our early flowering plants including fruit trees. They are solitary bees and do not sting. It would be great if you are able to protect the nesting sites from disturbance (from humans or livestock) during the spring when they are collecting pollen so they can successfully raise the next generation.

The chimney bees (Anthphora abrupta) that Cat provided a link to are active in May in North Carolina and are a different family than the Andrenid bees. Same general profile though - solitary ground nesting bees, important pollinators, won't sting!

Debbie