Waiting for the dogs to finish sniffing something delicious when the sound behind us, a low and constant hum, suddenly took on meaning.

Solstice Canyon, one of our regular morning walks now that the Tiny Labrador can't venture too far, was hit hard by fire in 2007. A decade later, one of the many trees hollowed out by the flames is home to a colony of bees.

They're very, very busy, these bees, with several flight paths leading to and from the tree. I would have shot a bit of video but they're so fast they don't really show up. And though they're certainly loud enough for audio, on this day the flock of parrots roosting and jousting above us was way louder.