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Honeybee Swarm

I'd been reading about the epidemic which is taking a toll on honeybees everywhere this year. There are many apple trees in our neighborhood, and I'm happy to say they were full of bees all through their blooming cycle, which is now over (nearby Sebastopol held its annual Apple Blossom Festival this past weekend).

As for the photos, talk about getting lucky! I'd seen swarms of honeybees before, but they were always on the move, never stationary. We discovered this swarm on a walnut tree behind our house toward dusk on the evening of April 26, 2007. They were not the least bit aggressive, and I haven't heard about any Africanized bees this far north, but I didn't want to get too close. I looked up "bees" on Google Images and learned they were probably migrating in search of a new tree-hollow or other suitable place to call home. I went out and closed up the woodshed so they would feel like moving in. They were still there the next morning, but I noticed the mass of bees was smaller, maybe half as large, and there were many more buzzing about than the evening before. When I checked again about noon, they were gone.