To Bee Continued

 I put up a "help me" post in the Desert Gardeners of Maricopa County Facebook group and got a response from someone whose brother is a beekeeper. She came out today, along with her nephew, to scope things out in advance.  The pictures I took yesterday were from my camera phone, which only has a digital zoom. Mike took these today with his "real" camera, which has an optical zoom.

There appear to be three distinct clusters of bees hanging from the underside of the bridge. We think they came in after Friday's heavy rains, because I first noticed them on Saturday, and because right after a rainstorm is when a hive is most likely to split off to form a new hive. These bees must think they have found paradise in our Arizona Backyard Eden...a shady, protected spot, lots of flowers, and easy access to water in our ponds. However, what is paradise for bees might be called something else by humans living in close proximity to them.

Hopefully, the father-and-son beekeeping team will be here today or tomorrow to escort our bee friends to a home that will be a better fit for them than this spot behind our pool.