Bee Tree
updated: Oct 25, 2012, 2:19 PM

By the Urban Hikers

Our 5-year old neighbor, Henry called to tell us "there are bee's in the tree...I hate to say it". So we went over to have a look and found a gorgeous little swarm, much like the one someone photographed and posted on Edhat yesterday. That one was on W.Arrellaga, this one is near Alameda Park.

We were curious about two swams in two days in a relatively vicinity and so we investigated. We found that a swarm is a way for the colony to reproduce. In the center of the swam, sits the queen bee, who emits a pheromone, thus attracting the other bees (workers and drones) to hover about her. Scout bees are away looking for a suitable place for the swarm to relocate to, and make it's hive. The scouts are out now searching for a safe spot, likely an old hollow tree trunk or other large cavity.

We were able to approach the swam and quietly photograph it without much concern for getting stung, because with no young or food to protect, there are no guard bees in a swarm. Mostly it's just female worker bees, who outnumber the male drone bees 100:1. The drones have only one mission in life: mate with the queen. The worker bees, on the other hand do all of the work in the hive... The saying, "a woman's work is never done" is never more true that in a swarm or a beehive.

We suspect that the scouts will soon locate a suitable place for their queen, her drones and her worker bees our swarm will depart the tree in a matter of hours or days. It was wonderful to see this amazing natural phenomenon. Thanks, Henry!

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