Sounds of Fall(ing)

I haven't opened up the hive in about a week - and I know there are things that needed to be done - but I did stop by yesterday.  I walked up there just to get an eye on things, since I always like to look and make sure that normal traffic is moving, that there are no robber bees, that nothing has chomped the hive apart.  I saw the cluster of lurking wasps which have become a standard fixture amongst the fallen leaves on the ground below the entry board, lately.  

While I watched them work, dismantling bees who were down for the count, I heard frequent sounds in the dry leaves around the hive base.  pat, pat.... pat...

Things were falling.  Bees were falling!  Flying in and out of the hive and crashing before their destination.  I wondered if this meant the drones were being thrown out - the worker bees physically carry the male/drone bees out of the hive as winter approaches.  When I saw that they were female/worker bees hitting the leaves, I watched more closely.  True, the wasps had gotten some of them, but in many cases it looked like the bees were making clumsy landings.  They were loaded with honey and unable to accurately calculate their landing marks.  

For the first time in a while, also, I saw many bees with visible collected pollen.  I guess it means the fall nectar flow is continuing.

I will hold off on feeding for this week, as I am concerned that an explosion of food will prompt the hive to continue to grow, when in reality, they ought to only be storing and preparing for winter.  I don't want them to get confused!  If there still is a nectar flow, then I am feeling more confident in the bees' ability to gather enough food to sustain them... but I have more investigating to do before I rest with that assumption.