Yes, your tree probably at one point had honey it in. Since then, ants and other insects probably ate it. If they didn't get to it though, it's still there. Honey was found in the egyptian pyramids and it's still good. Over 2,000 year old honey is still good, now that's preserving at it's best.
You can tell if honey bees have become africanized by their behavior. Nasty little bastards. Every time you try to do something, anything they sting you. When you go into a normal hive, you might get stung, if they are hot maybe a few times. But with africanized bees if you go into the hive 1/4 of the the hive goes after you. they don't like people.
bumble bees are alot like carpenter bees, except for their homes. Carpenter bees are communal, where as bumble bees are solitary. Carpter bees will choose a place to live and then others will live in the same area, more for security purposes. They chew through the wood and make kinda like an 'L' in the wood. Then they collect pollen, ball it up, and lay an egg in the pollen. They do this about five or so times per hole the chew. The parents eventually die (bees don't live long) and their children emerge to complete the process. Bumble bees work in a very similar mannor, just not living in wood. They don't collect nectar, but they have been known to eat it.
When you hear bees thumping, or see them flying into a wall, they are measuring things. not exactly being drunk. They know that if they start off on one side of a room and fly full steam ahead untill their head smacks into the other wall they know how long they flew ... i.e. how big the room is. If it's outdoors they are testing it, to see if the wall is something they should be aware of. They do the same thing to the vail when I go into the hive. They are just bumping their heads to let whatever it is around them that they are there. If the wall happened to move back, they would probably sting it.
Neat little note, only female bees sting. Male bees have no stingers. It's part of their ovaries. In addition to this, carpenter bees have pairs, a male and a female per home. The female will forage, while the male will guard the entrance. So if you see a carpenter bee flying around the enterance of a hole, just hovering there, not going anywhere, it's probably a male. You can pick it up, make a fist around it, shake him all up and he can't do anything to you. Not a thing.
And yes, I hate wasps too. They are carnivorious, bees are herbavors. Totally different. Not nearly as social either.
