Song of the Queen: Thrilling Tales of Honey Bee Mating Behavior

The mating flight of a honey bee queen is orchestrated by events that occur days before she actually flies from her nest in pursuit of a gathering of drones, 20 or so of which will be lucky enough to mate with her. Her mating song begins within the nest with piping and tooting, sounds audible to her rival queens. The song changes pitch and intensity after she destroys her rivals and reaches a crescendo after she leaves the nest and finds a congregation of drones. Joined by the buzzing of wings, popping sounds of their genitalia and the beating drum, the drones find and mate with her, falling to the ground dead. The song ends when she returns to the nest, never to sing again.
Suggested Reading: The Art of the Bee, Chapter 9, Robert E. Page, Jr., Oxford University Press