Bees on the Move
(click on photos to enlarge)
Most early mornings I walk for an hour or two before it gets too hot and the desire to be outdoors passes. I observe a lot of nature on my walks — the tarantula that I assisted crossing the road so it wouldn’t meet an untimely end under a tire, the Red-spotted Toads that weren’t so lucky, a bobcat exploring a ravine, the Red-tailed Hawk perched majestically at the top of a Saguaro, and the Bell’s Vireos that sing from deep within the vegetation down by the seepage area. These are but a few of my “sightings.” So as I approached the four orange cones on the sidewalk in front of me, I wondered why they were there. It didn’t appear that there was anything wrong with the sidewalk. Then I saw the little white paper attached to the rope. It said “Caution– bees in area.”
In the small Palo Verde tree was a football-sized swarm of honey bees. It’s amazing how they “stick” together in that tight ball. I wonder how they do it?
I’m not sure if these are our regular (European) honey bees or the more aggressive “Africanized” honey bees that are now found throughout the Southwest. They tend to swarm more frequently than the European honeybee and that’s how they made their way into the U.S. from South America where they were introduced from Africa because of their superior honey production. They are more defensive than the European honey bee resulting in their sometimes being referred to as “Killer Bees.” This swarm didn’t seem to mind a flash going off in their faces. Only a few bees left the swarm when the light hit them.
Close-up of Bee Swarm
More on the local birds in my next post.
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