The following was sent to me by Liz Day (remember Liz?) who picked this
up from BIRDCHAT.  Please respond to BEE-L (as I would like to read the
answer, and I don't follow birdchat).  Too much information and too
little time!  I'll send any responses back to Liz and she'll forward
them to BIRDCHAT.
 
>> Sender: "National Birding Hotline Cooperative (Chat Line)"
>>               <[log in to unmask]>
>> From: Marcia Braun <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject:      bee killed purple martin
>> To: Multiple recipients of list BIRDCHAT
>>               <[log in to unmask]>
>>
>> My husband and I were witness this weekend to a strange
>> example of insect/bird interaction in our back yard.
>>
>> We were watching a female purple martin feed two youngsters on
>> the porch of the martin house.  Honey bees from a hive on the
>> other side of the garage were heading out to forage, steaming
>> by the martin house.  As we watched, one young martin suddenly
>> leaped off of the house and fluttered to the ground.  We went
>> to investigate and found the bird lying panting on the ground,
>> with a honey bee stinging it on the back of the neck.  Ron
>> knocked the bee off.  The bird died a few seconds later.  The
>> mother martin flew about wildly when the young bird leaped
>> from the house, and continued to call after we left the area.
>>
>> We are guessing that the bee flying by collided with the bird
>> and then stung it.  Probably it was the sting and not the fall
>> that killed it.  The bees were not trying to take over the
>> house -- that is, it was not an instance of a swarm looking
>> for a new nest site.
>>
>> This seems unusual to us, so I wanted to ask if anyone else
>> has heard of honey bees stinging birds.
>>
>> Marcia Braun
>> Houston, TX
>> [log in to unmask]