We have 3 Rhododendrons around our patio. When they flower it is loaded with bumble bees. You can walk through a swarm of the big fellows without fear. They just do their thing. The one time I was bit by one was on my motorcycle when one flew into my mouth. By the time I stopped my lip was huge. The hornets that nest in the ground are the worst. They will chase you down for like 50 yards and bite the hell out of you for just walking by.
Yeh, that’s why they get the flamethrower welcome.
Had one buzzing around my bathroom window, looking for some hollow to start building a nest, probably. Sprayed the beastie with tile-cleaner or whatever was in the spray-bottle I grabbed. Went away. Dunno if permanently or just to scout a new location.
Germany's goverment has a catalogue of fines for killing wasps because these are considered as a "protected species".
https://www.bussgeldkatalog.org/tierschutz-wespe/
In Berlin (where I live) you (theoretically) face a fine of EUR 5,000.00 to EUR 50,000.00 for killing a wasp.
There was a fairly long thread 4 years ago about Hornets ?
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/40720
Pretty interesting .
It's the internet .....everyone is an expert and everyone has an opinion
Wasps can be aggressive when you get too close to their nest or if it is very hot and dry. Other times they usually don’t go out of their way to attack.
My favorite method to eradicate ground hornets is to wait until night time and pour a little gas down the hole and stand back and light it.
Seems raccoons and opossums do a number on their nests. Have at it my friend I say.
Carpenter bees are really something. They will hover in front of your face to scare you off but they don’t attack. Good thing because they are big
It's always a matter of how you look at it. :-D
Not sure if you’ve seen this (about wasps, not bees, though):
I found it funny and interesting 
If you could even get your eyes open, that is. 
UPDATE:
On Monday, my niece saw that we have a beehive in one of our Palo Verde trees.
Also, one of our neighbors does not have any dead bees on his property.
We have many dead bees on our property.
Finally, we have not heard back from the university yet.
He lives in the California desert. I lived in Dana Point (on the ocean) for 18yrs, and probably only saw 5 mosquitoes the entire time. No need to spray for mosquitoes, because there aren’t any to speak off
Google Varroa Mites. It’s a real problem
https://bee-health.extension.org/honey-bee-viruses-the-deadly-varroa-mite-associates/
Nope.
The bees only died on the day I created this thread.
Many innocent honey bees killed by Varroa mites parasite over the years. 
We talked to a gardening expert, and he said that because the dead bees had their tongues sticking out, they were poisoned.
We don't know what the poison was, however.
Zyklon Bee?
A yellow-jacket is in the wasp family, and can sting repeatedly. This makes them so terribly nasty. I hate wasps & hornets. Bumble, carpenter and honey bees are terrific & mostly tame. Carpenter bees can’t sting you. I once rescued one from drowning in a bird bath. It had clung onto my index finger as I raised it out of the water. And it wouldn’t leave, even after I nudged it. So I let it stay there as I enjoyed a beer listening to the radio. It eventually stirred a bit, then I got it to crawl off my finger. About 10 mins later it looked more normal and then it took off flying, back into its domain.
Awwww, maybe you could’ve given him some Perła…
I just wish they would eat holes somewhere besides my eaves. You can stick your pinky in them.
I am not sure how big your desert property is but you are right the bees got poisoned very close by.
Do you have a swimming pool? or a Water well. They could have gotten some of the water treatment mixed in their food. or could be just usual pest control
We have five acres, but we're on a hill and most of it is unusable due to the rocky terrain.
We do have a small inflatable pool, but it just has tap water in it.