The Last Bee

Well, maybe not literally, but the bees have mostly gone.  My favorite Bumble Bees live only through the summer and early fall.  The queen bee is the only one that survives and goes underground to hibernate for the winter.  This, I think, is a honeybee from my neighbor's hives.  Once the weather gets below 50F during the day, they gather in tight clusters in the hive to stay warm and spend the winter in a kind of bee slumber party.  Our weather is cooling down today after our spell of warm temperatures but still in the 60's so I may see more honeybees visiting the fall asters, the last flower to bloom in the garden.  (I just noticed I posted a bee on the asters last year on this day!)