What appearred to be several hundred bee's (or more) in one writhing mass, took up temporary residence on the branch of a Jaccaranda tree near our place. A bee expert explained that a colony nearby was doing well and had outgrown itself. In order to expand, the queen laid more queen eggs, and the first one to hatch set off to establish a new colony. The swarm that took up temporary residence in our tree was protecting that queen while a few soldiers went out in search of a more suitable location for permanent settlement. Cool huh!

Click here to see an expanded gallery of pictures of the swarm.