A Bird Or A Bee

Early in the week, I saw something strange, so out of the ordinary that it didn't seem real at first. Replaying the incident in my head, it took on an animated, fictionalized, almost cartoonish quality.

Over the many years the small bird house has hung under the eave of the garage, I've looked at it out the kitchen window or watched it from the screen porch and caught glimpses of its occupants. The resident birds have usually been House Wrens. But occasionally Black-capped Chickadees have nested there as well.

This time, however, as I looked at the bird house, a large bumblebee flew directly into the entrance. I was so surprised that I shook my head as if to shake off a hallucination. But then I remembered an account given by Edwin Way Teale of finding a bumblebee nest in an old bird nest, repurposed by the insect. While I watched the bird house, the bee didn't depart. Will it be successful in establishing a nest? Being seven feet off the ground seems a little arboreal considering most bumblebees nest at ground level or below. So, I'm keeping an eye on the bird house now, to see what enters or leaves next. Will it be it a bird or a bee?

Posted on April 29, 2017 02:38 AM by scottking