Nope. These are absolutely bumblebees - I mean the yellow and black, hairy kind of bee.
I have seen them come out of the ground, and always assumed that was where they nest.
Interesting that in this case their nest is directly below a bunch of wooden blocks that my mason bees are in. (and starting to emerge)
As soon as those suckers come after you you wont think it is cute having them around. Ive been chased by a bunch of them.
The mason bees are well known and reverred for pollinating garden and orchard crops , and not known to sting.
Bumble bees are not reverred so much as they will pollinate more ground crops (ie: strawberries, clover ,, blueberries, etc.).
Also , bumble bees will fly in cooler temps ( as cool as 37 degrees), and even later into the night than conventional bees (ideal for earlier crops, and earlier flowers).
Unfortunately , my expierience is more with 'three-banded Italian' and 'caucasian' bees in Langstroth frames .
I always thought the black and white bumblebees were okay too. Until I was working at a site and when I got to close to the next they started swarming and chasing me. No stings though.
I called it in to my client as I was supposed to. I kept working and the bug guy came over in an hour or so. He laughed at me. “Those bees don’t bother anyone, but I’ll check it out.”
He walked over to take a look where I had put some orange flagging tape. He got a bit closer, and then turned and started running like the wind - waving his hat around his head like a crazy man!
He made it back to his truck with TWO big cans of spray and his head net, gloves, etc.
He came back and said “That’s the first time I’ve seen that!”
I did another job where I spent days walking back and forth in bushes up to my waist, with a dozen bees on every bush. They weren’t fazed at all by it - pretty amazing.
They usually nest in the ground. They must have been “swarming.” They might not be there for long.