Male Bees and Wasps Do Not Have a Stinger.

[Gloria]

Male bees do not have a stinger and do not defend nest or hive. Some male bees like carpenter bees will fly at anyone approaching nest sight but are no danger. Worker bees are female but do not lay eggs. They use the modified ovipositor for defense. All female solitary bees lay eggs and have a stinger but only sting rarely.


Bee Stings, BeeSpotter, University of Illinois

The bee stinger is a modified ovipositor, although in other insects (and in queen bees) comparable structures are used for laying eggs, in worker bees the stinger is used just for defense. Males therefore do not have stingers and pose no threat.

https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef611

Male carpenter bees are quite aggressive, often hovering in front of people who are around the nests. The males are quite harmless, however, since they lack stingers. Female carpenter bees can inflict a painful sting but seldom will unless they are handled or molested.****

The Xerces Society Bumble bee identification

In order to properly identify bumble bees, you need to first determine whether the bee you are examining is male or female. There are three different types of bumble bees you will encounter: workers, queens, and males. Both queens and workers are female. In most cases, queens and workers have similar coloration and physical features, except that queens tend to be much larger. Males can differ in coloration from females of the same species, as well as other physical characteristics.

[rockerBOO]

Are the males carpenter bees the only ones that hover? I see a lot of them but it seems like they are looking for nesting areas than protecting in some cases.