Several years ago, in the spring, a clan of honeybees moved into a never-used bird house that I’d hung up long ago in a koa tree. Honeybees can make a good living in my garden, so the colony grows a lot over the next few months.

Eventually, whether because they’ve outgrown the box or for some other reason, they take off, leaving only a tiny population behind, which dwindles to nothing over the winter.

And then in the spring they come back! Today was the day of the return. I heard the buzz of their swarm from where I was sitting, working on my latest novel, and went out to take a few pictures.

The honeycombs on the outside of the “bee house” were built in the first year of habitation. They tend to fill up with bees as the season advances, presumably because there are too many bees to live inside.

How the swarm remembers the location of this bee house is a mystery to me. If you know, please tell me!

Posted on: Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Categories: Maui.