Now I can tell everyone about the birds and the bumbleBEES....

We have a bumblebee nest in the corner of the house underneath the roof, in a hole that I don't remember noticing before, right above the door to our porch. I don't mind, since I have gone "hog wild" over my porch gardening (my goal is to become a porch-farmer).



I am sad that there is a shortage of bees in the world so I am super excited that we are blessed to have bees living above us. They are so cute.

But in the last few days, the bees have been behaving in a most peculiar way. I saw a huge bumblebee fall down out of the nest and land on the porch and wobble and wiggle around with another little bee riding her. I was so confused. I wasn't sure if she wanted this other bee on her back since she seemed quite agitated, and then I thought, "the bee is biting her back???"



Then I saw it again today when I got up. I was so confused, I went and looked up on google, "bumblebee riding bumblebee" but couldn't find anything. I go back outside, sitting there, relaxing, listening to the birds, watching my cats and drinking my coffee. Sure enough the largest bumblebee falls out of the nest again, with another bee on her back. This time the bees settled down on top of the mop but this time she didn't seem so agitated and suddenly the little bee on her back started doing that most unmistakable gesture unique to males of all species. I was stunned, so I googled it and sure enough, I did in fact witness bees mating!! I guess there is a first time for everything...