Sentry Bee

I finally managed to scrape together enough energy yesterday to work on the house, just a little.  I decided, since the weather was gorgeous, to put a coat of oil stain on the new section of fence Joe and I built last fall to try to muffle the sound of the neighbor's air conditioner.

Beyond the fact I'm pretty sure it's going to work as intended to recreate my peaceful backyard oasis, I've become quite fond of the fence this spring.  It covers the worst of the sloppy work they did on the side of the house next door during their remodeling project, thus soothing my outraged OCD-ness. Since it's not on my house, I don't really care about their misaligned siding board or the uneven cut of their overhang as long as I don't have to look at it.

I've been puzzled since they moved in about a large hole on the side of their house. It looks like a stove hood vent, but there's nothing covering the hole, or leading to it.  Just before they moved in last summer, someone stuck some clear packing tape over the thing, but there was no attempt to insulate the space.  Looked like a good way to have cold floors for the winter, but I figured it wasn't my business, so I didn't say anything.  Most of the tape fell off over the winter; I told them about it a couple of weeks ago, figuring they'd want to get the hole covered back up before something moved in.  (Turns out she didn't even know it was there; was as puzzled as I was by its existence - so much for getting my curiosity as to its purpose sated...)

Too late.

As I was staining their side of my fence, I noticed a large bee hovering around the hole, about nine feet off the ground.  It was a big bug - easily over an inch long, with a barrel body - not the kind of bug I want to mess with.  It ignored me, though.  (I think it's a type of wood-boring bee...)  It was more worried about the wasps and other bugs flying about.  When the wasps would venture into the alley between the houses, the sentry bee would zoom after them and chase them away.  It would then return to hang out in front of the hole, scanning the air the entire time for threats to its space.  I was out there for over an hour, and I don't think that bee landed the entire time I was out there.

Its poor wings had to be exhausted.

I was struck by its dedication to duty.  It's easy for me to sit back and enjoy the flowers, and to forget that spring is serious business for the creatures who share my world.  There are territories to establish and defend, eggs to lay, young ones to protect. 

I looked up some basic information on his kind - this type of bee is not aggressive towards people.  So, until the neighbors get around to evicting him, I will be grateful he's around.  From what I saw yesterday, I will not need to worry about any wasp nests being built on that side of the house this spring.

I'll take what help I can get.