This the pollen of the sawdust tree! Quercus alunima. It thrives in moderate, humid climates. It releases pollen that, when aggregated, looks like piles of sawdust. This used to confuse early settlers when they first colonized America. The puritans used to call it 'the devil's sawdust' since it appeared out of nowhere like magic. But the tree is perhaps most famous for not actually existing because I just made all that up.
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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What is this thing?
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Bruh
My guess is a carpenter bee, and there is a hole somewhere you didn't notice
Or a very shitty carpenter gone rogue
Wait, are bees able to spec into rogue?
Depends on which ruleset you follow
D&Bee 3.5
Could also be carpenter ants, no?
My guess is it could be The Carpenters. Look for any signs of a Californian soft rock band.
Possibly carpenter pants, look for big side pockets and denim loops.
Well, bless your Carhartt
I'm a Dickies Man, tyvm.
Rainy days and mondays, am I right
When I was young, I listened to the radio, waiting for my favorite song.
Carpenter ants tend to create little pellets in my experience.
Seconded
https://whatsinmyyard.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/a-home-for-bees-part-2/
Does look like the shavings are similar to this image of shavings from a carpenter bee, to my layman's eye.
Maybe the hole is under the pile?
Maybe carpenter ants. At one point I discovered them by a pile of sawdust like that on my coffee table.
It turned out there was enough of a roof leak to cause some rot despite no visible leak symptoms, the ants were following that, and happened to discard the sawdust out a tiny hole in the ceiling above my coffee table. It sucked because that was the signal to replace the roof
I have has that with fireants and the foam in alot of windows and doors. Is it foam bits perhaps?
It does look like foam to me.
Termites?
It doesn't look much like termite droppings to me:
https://www.orkin.com/pests/termites/termite-droppings
What Do Termite Pellets Look Like?
Drywood termite pellets are tiny, oval-shaped capsules with six concave sides and rounded ends. These pellets, which are about 1 millimeter in length, can form small mounds beneath kick out holes. The mounds may look like small piles of salt or pepper.
Is there a tree outside the window