Honey, anyone?

This afternoon we looked out our back window after having just come in from being in the front yard and saw a scary sight---many, many, many bees flying around in big circles, but being especially interested in one tree in our backyard (a Japanese Maple). There must have been thousands of them! It was freaky. Armando had seen this happen one other time when he was teaching in Winters (nearby town) and said it was a swarm. We contacted a couple of local beekeepers who said that they will settle down eventually and will either try to make a new hive or will fly somewhere else (they're looking for a new home--their old colony must have been too crowded). For now, they are all settled down, clumped on the trunk of the tree. Here's a photo: see if you can spot all the bees! If they stay put, a beekeeper will come and get them (bees are big business out here in California!).