Xylocopa californica
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The California carpenter bee or Western carpenter bee, Xylocopa californica, is a species of carpenter bee in the order Hymenoptera, and it is native to western North America. There are approximately 400 species worldwide of the genus Xylocopa. X. californica is typically found in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Northwestern Mexico. It is especially abundant, along with X. sonorina, in the Central Valley and in Southern California, including the Mojave Desert. They are agriculturally beneficial insects and pollinators of diverse California chaparral and woodlands and desert native plant species. This carpenter bee is active during hot seasons. Therefore, they are considered an endothermic insect as it absorbs heat in the desert conditions. As the bee absorbs too much heat in its body, it has to limit the time it flies and fly in the time of day in which it is cooler.
Their head is larger and thicker than their thorax; however, the size of the head differs between females and males. Female carpenter bees have bigger heads than males with more narrow heads. The California carpenter bee is all black, with... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Canyon National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Guadalupe Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Bahía de Loreto National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 9 | Joshua Tree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Las Vegas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Torreón | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Mesa | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Western Carpenter Bee sighting in Yosemite National Park on a given day, based on 34 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 48th most-seen of the 227 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Western Carpenter Bee in Yosemite National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to March, the lowest months. That is one of Yosemite National Park's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain against 220 mm in January.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Western Carpenter Bee sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 9
Of the 9 parks where we can rate Western Carpenter Bee sightings, Yosemite National Park ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Grand Canyon National Park (United States, about 30%), Guadalupe Mountains National Park (United States, about 20%) and Big Bend National Park (United States, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Western Carpenter Bee is recorded against all the insects logged in Yosemite National Park (34 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
