Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: Large "Bumblebee", 1 by wingwoman

wingwoman wrote:
Every summer, we see this very large bee hovering in our garden. He's shy, and never hangs around for long enough that I have time to run in the house and fetch my camera. I use a long lens, as I'm too much of a sissy to get very close to him. Today there were two of them, and they allowed me to get a few shots. We've been calling him Grand Master Bee, and I was quite happy to finally get some photos. Can someone tell us what type of bee this is?