Queen mating flight

[Les]

A Spring of firsts.....yesterday I came outside and noticed something peculiar below one of the hives.  A couple clumps of bees on the ground.  I knew there were swarm cells in the hive ready to hatch
and thought a virgin queen was on the ground.  Poked around and found nothing.  I should mention this is the same hive that swarmed about a week ago.  Sitting on the deck (I must confess I was nodding off), when I was awoken by a dive bomber around my head that was intent on nailing me.  Lucky for me, because she woke me up to witness my first mating flight.  Now I know what I saw yesterday, it was the tail end of a mating flight. 

[Newbee]

Thanks for sharing Les!
I've been dealing with swarming issues recently too, and frankly didn't know what I was observing, other than 'something wasn't quite right'. Having all this info, pics, video's, etc., are all really helpful for folks trying to figure out what's going on.

- K