Anyone recognize this dust?

[jkogel]

If it's carpenter ants, there are at least 5 openings, not likely it would be 5 separate nests. That's what makes me wonder if it could be beetles?

John Kogel
ww.allsafehome.ca

[ROBERT W. NEWLAND, JR.]

Could be carpenter bees. They look like a bumble bee and make a perfectly round hole in wood leaving behind the "saw dust". Real common here in the South.

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

Was there any work done in that particular area? new siding or new roof perhaps?

[pdickerson]

I don't see Anobiids getting into cedar shingles very often. Also, you would see their exit holes. The frass doesn't look right for carpenter ants. I am not sure what it is.

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

The reason I asked about work being done is it looks like a mud dauber nest that has been broken off from somewhere. They get up in the gables or attics by any little hole. They like to attach to roofing nails or just anywhere. When there is work done, a hammer can just pop those right off the wood or where ever they are connected.

It looks like dirt and left over remains of the cocoon. Just a guess.

[Martin A. Jorgensen]

Originally Posted by sstanczyk

The reason I asked about work being done is it looks like a mud dauber nest that has been broken off from somewhere. They get up in the gables or attics by any little hole. They like to attach to roofing nails or just anywhere. When there is work done, a hammer can just pop those right off the wood or where ever they are connected.

It looks like dirt and left over remains of the cocoon. Just a guess.

Could be anyone knocking them off. I agree with Stephan on the mud dauber "broken home" affect.

[jkogel]

Originally Posted by sstanczyk

The reason I asked about work being done is it looks like a mud dauber nest that has been broken off from somewhere. They get up in the gables or attics by any little hole. They like to attach to roofing nails or just anywhere. When there is work done, a hammer can just pop those right off the wood or where ever they are connected.

It looks like dirt and left over remains of the cocoon. Just a guess.

Thanks for ideas so far. It's a newer home and no work whatsoever has been done in the attic or on the roof recently. I wonder if mud daubers are getting desperate for living spaces, with newer homes being sealed up tighter? There are no carpenter bees this far north (yet). The critters appear to have crawled up between the undercourse shingles and made homes there. There are tiny bits of black, building paper probably, in the frass piles.

[Ron Chorey II]

send the pictures to an entimologist(spelling?) maybe they could help you. Every now and then I find bugs at my house and have my wife take them to the endimology lab at the university she works at.

[Bryce W. Jeffrey]

We have carpenter bees in Ontario and I have one in my front porch! Just a shot of raid and then some caulking.