Funny Place for a Bees Nest

When out geocaching yesterday afternoon we stopped to look at one of the many memorials in an old cemetery. My husband called me over to look at the statue on this large civil war memorial. He saw the bees nest but I saw a knapsack. I thought it was part of the statue. The color was almost the same. I wonder why they are leaving it in place and not knocking it down. Perhaps they are waiting for winter to remove it when the bees are frozen (do they hibernate?) This nest is over 2 ft from top to bottom.