Phoebes and free bees...

Another long time since I have blogged!  It takes forever to upload my photos, and so I procrastinate writing day after day.  Now my son has shown me how to make the photos smaller so that my slow country internet can do the job, so hopefully that will help.

I have been meaning to blog about phoebes and free bees for over a month now...but the uploading thing has kept me away...But this weekend got real exciting with the bees.

We have had bees "hiving" in our chimney since we moved in.  We noticed them in mid-March, when the weather got unseasonably warm for a few days.

This isn't the best pic but it is difficult to zoom in and keep a steady hand when the bees are so far up.
We called a local beekeeper about coming to rescue them, but he kept assuring us that when May came and the weather was consistently warm, he would come and deal with them.

Yesterday, while working in the garden, we heard an incredible loud buzzing, and looked up at the chimney to see this.

"Our" bees were swarming!!!  They buzzed out of the chimney and into a nearby tree, where they all grouped together to protect the queen.

I called our local bee hotline, and was given so much information.  They hung like this on the tree for about 3 hours, apparently the queen sending out her scouts to find a suitable cavity to move to.  Once a new home was found, she gave the signal, and within seconds they all flew off over the house and down towards a local vineyard.

Amazing!!!  The beekeeper said that very few people actually get to witness such an event.  He said that approximately 60% of the hive will leave to set up new digs, so we do still have bees in our chimney, and probably a large quantity of honey as well.  He said it is better to wait until January to deal with them.  We are going to go to the next beekeepers meeting and learn more, and possibly be beekeeping apprentices.  There has been a very rapid decline in the honey bee population in the past few years, and apparently these Niagara bees have some special adaptation that has made them immune to the devastating mite.  Sounds interesting!!!

And these lovely phoebes have also decided to nest under the overhang of our side porch.

They sing "phoebe, phoebe" and have the distinctive habit of bobbing their tail as they sit.

Sarah thinks it is all quite fascinating.

So do we!!