Robbin Thorp holding a male Valley carpenter bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

"Golden boy?" A male Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa varipuncta) to be exact. This carpenter bee is usually mistaken for a bumble bee but a bumble bee it is not. It's a male Valley carpenter bee. And the females of this species are solid black.

Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, provided information to wide-eyed youngsters as he held the golden carpenter bees,  what he calls "the teddy bear bees."  They look and feel soft and cuddly, just like a teddy bear.  

The questions flew.

Visitor: "Does it sting?"

Thorp: ""No, boy bees don't sting. They don't have a stinger."

Visitor: "Why does he act like he's going to sting me?"

Thorp: "He's bluffing. He's trying to make you think he can sting."

Visitor: "Do carpenter bees make honey?"

Thorp: "No, honey bees make honey."

Visitor: "Can I touch it?"

Thorp: "Yes, can you feel it vibrating?"

Visitor: "Does it die after it mates?"

Thorp: "No, it can mate again. A drone (male) honey bee dies after mating, but not carpenter bees."

Visitor: "What are you going to do with it afterwards?"

Thorp: "Release it back into the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven (a half-acre bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road that's operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology)."

Fact is, it's a pollinator. Keep your eyes open for it and other pollinators on May 8. That's when the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) is conducting "Operation Pollination," one of three events on a Day of Science and Service. Your help is needed. Wherever you are in California--at work or at play--allow three minutes to count the pollinators around you. That could be honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies, sweat bees, syrphid flies, carpenter bees, bats and the like. Take some photos, too. Then register the data and upload your photos on the UC ANR web page.

We suspect that if and when the nearly 5000 visitors who attended the Bohart Museum open house, catch a glimpse of a "golden boy" on May 8, they'll know exactly what it is, whatever they choose to call it.

• Male Valley carpenter bee
• Xylocopa varipuncta
• Boy bee
• Golden boy
• "Teddy bear bee"
• Pollinator