the birds and the bees

Olivia drew my attention to the scene unfolding on the back lawn the other day. There, I found a sight I've never seen. At first glance, it was one bird laying on the ground. We quickly realized that one bird was pinning another down. Liv thought the top bird was killing to bottom one. I absentmindedly told her that I thought they were mating, not thinking if she even knew what 'mating' meant. She said,"Yes, the top one is the daddy." I just can't remember having a conversation about 'mating'....Weird.

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For some time, Olivia has been very interested in bees. One of her favourite errands to run is to pick up some honey from the local apiary. Unfortunately, they won't let her go see the hives (I can understand why, though). So we decided that the only compromise other than getting honey bees ourselves (which is NOT going to happen) we'd get some mason bees. They're pretty cool. I am excited to see the cocoons once they are in the little house. In the Winter, you're supposed to take the house apart and clean the little cocoons and the trays. I know Liv will find this very cool.