# What kind of bees burrow nests in the ground? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512 "2005-04-15T17:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/1 "2005-04-15T17:58:20Z")
I’ve been in Florida for almost 7 years, and I’m still seeing flora and fauna that didn’t exist in Canada. One has me intrigued. Around the area where I work, there are bees that will take over a whole plot of land. They dig holes into the earth, excavating the dirt into a little pile, with a hole in the middle. Just across the street, in a residential development, there is at least an acre of land _covered_ in these nests. At any time of day, there are thousands of bees hovering around over them, going in and coming out again. I’ve never seen anything like it, and never heard of such a thing where I come from. Does anybody know what type of bee this is, and why they don’t make their nests in trees or somewhere off the ground? It would seem like they’d have a higher rate of survival by nesting where they couldn’t be trod on, or mowed over, or flooded by the Florida rain. There have been no reports of anyone attacked by a swarm of them, so they must be fairly benign. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/2 "2005-04-15T18:21:47Z")
Yellow Jackets. Woe be unto him who excites a nest of Yellow Jackets. A Yellow Jacket does not leave a stinger in its victim, so therefore it can sting multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/3 "2005-04-15T18:24:31Z")
[Ground wasps.](http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2143.html) ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/4 "2005-04-15T18:30:14Z")
There are also ground hornets. Not sure if they live FL, though. I’ve only seen them in western NC. ---
**Author:** ![DirkGntly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DirkGntly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DirkGntly)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/5 "2005-04-15T18:40:45Z")
Like **awldune** said, they could be ground hornets. Interestingly, they make an AWESOME, but strong, kind of honey, which can be harvested, if your careful. (Just ask an armadillo…) It’s very likely they are in Florida, since we also have them in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/6 "2005-04-15T18:51:00Z")
While it’s true that you may be seeing yellowjackets and not actual bees, there are true bees, such as digger or miner bees, that live in burrows. They are solitary, as opposed to hive bees, although it is not unusual for large numbers of burrows to coexist close together. Bumblebees also make burrows. ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/7 "2005-04-16T22:11:24Z")
Yellowjackets… they’re in Northern Wisconsin too. Just ask my brother about the time he found out he was standing very close to the nest entrance. They started flying up his pants leg. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/8 "2005-04-16T22:15:58Z")
If you spot them building miniature lodges on bodies of water, they’re bee-vers. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/9 "2005-04-16T22:19:20Z")
Oh bee-have. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/10 "2005-04-17T00:37:48Z")
Hambee: To bee or not to bee? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/11 "2005-04-17T02:28:35Z")
> [@Myron Van Horowitzski](#): > > Yellowjackets… they’re in Northern Wisconsin too. Just ask my brother about the time he found out he was standing very close to the nest entrance. They started flying up his pants leg. Does he say anything about the bee attitudes while this was going on? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/12 "2005-04-17T02:47:49Z")
**Tuckerfan** - As a native Floridian I can tell you they are Yellowjackets. And mean as they come. You don’t even have to disturb the hest. Vibrations from walking in the area with maybe 30 feet will bring them looking for you. Verrrry aggressive. I have seen operators of front-end loaders abandon their eqipment and run when clearing a lot. I have had to kill off a nest and I can tell you it is like a little city down there, going down several feet and several in diameter, with honeycomg-like structures of immense sizes. We have poured gas on them, set fires that burned for hours, even days, and still seen individuals coming and going from the burning nest. Truely bad-ass bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/13 "2005-04-17T03:13:58Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#): > > Hambee: To bee or not to bee? I can’t bee-lieve this… Definitely Yellowjackets. As **Nicodemus2004** said, these are nasty little bastards. In my native Georgia, I’ve run across a nest with a lawn mower a couple of times. The only thing to do is abandon the mower and bolt. ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-bees-burrow-nests-in-the-ground/299512/14 "2005-04-17T03:23:53Z")
[Pictures here](http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/eastern_yellow_jacket.htm) **silenus** is right in that Yellowjackets are wasps.