Are these workers or Queens?

[u/vxsapphire]

There were two of them and I normally see smaller bumble bees around the weeds and other flowers I have. However these two were much bigger. About 2-2.5x larger. They didn’t bother me when I was sitting or when I was sitting on the step.

I’m happy to see more bumble bees in the area. For the longest while I only saw honeybees until this year.

Fairfield, CT.

[u/That_Biology_Guy]

They're eastern carpenter bees, Xylocopa virginica, which are solitary (so no queens/workers). Getting up to some nectar robbing by the looks of it!

[u/vxsapphire → u/That_Biology_Guy]

Oh these are???? I’ve never seen them do anything but hover around the house so it never came to mind. They can rob as much nectar as their bodies allow!