What’s the buzz? The latest West Seattle swarm

| Environment | Seen around town | Wildlife

Finally, photos of a West Seattle bee swarm — Several people have e-mailed/texted/called us in the past few weeks about bee swarms turning up in their neighborhoods, and every time it happens, we roll out, only to find the bees have moved on. This afternoon, though, Christine not only sent us a text and e-mail (thank you!!!!) — she also took photos of the bees that turned up at her house near Riverview Playfield (map). Click each photo for a larger version (the little golden spots in these versions look more like bees when you view the photos that way).

Here’s what Wikipedia says about bee swarms.

Irukandji June 14, 2008 (4:58 pm)

Very cool. When I was a kid, a swarm decided to set up nest in our fireplace one summer. It was 95 degrees out (not in Seattle!) and we had a fire going to discourage the intruders.

We’d seen them nest every year in our neighbor’s fig tree. No idea why they changed place.

I was shuffled off to my room as parents fought the swarm. For days we picked dead bee carcases out of the carpet.

MargL June 14, 2008 (5:20 pm)

Yay! Go bees go! And stay healthy!

MargL June 14, 2008 (5:24 pm)

Oh – and thanks for the headline, now I have Jesus Christ Superstar music going thru my head for the rest of the day :-)

WSB June 14, 2008 (5:50 pm)

OK, if that’s a song lyric, it was absolutely unintended … this time!

CandrewB June 14, 2008 (6:25 pm)

Good to see…

DM June 14, 2008 (7:39 pm)

Thought I would pass on this web address if folks are experiencing distress with da bees: http://www.wasba.org/swarm.htm

And, a couple years ago a huge “bald face hornet” nest attached itself to the underside of the eave of my house. I called Seattle Tilth and they gave me the name of a fellow who came out and sucked them all up, once the hive was big enough, for free. I didn’t need to use any toxins to get rid of them, and he illuminated me on the wonders of observing their productive and focused social behavior, before “suckage”. Gotta love a “bug guy”.

Yes, “what’s the buzz” is also replaying in my head, like a radio station playing the same song over and over. Thanks for reminding me..

changingtimes June 14, 2008 (9:08 pm)

i think i woud have a panic attack if i saw the sworm…i hope they are not headed my way :(

thriftwaygirl June 15, 2008 (12:36 am)

Its nice to see the bees where ever we can get them!

pam June 15, 2008 (10:52 am)

One of my pals down in White Center had his neighborhood swarm collected last week, too. He got a reference to a beekeeper via the Puget Sound Beekeepers site:

http://www.pugetsoundbees.org/

We’re fond of bees and their work, so we’re always happy to hear stories of them thriving!

Jason June 15, 2008 (6:24 pm)

I had the pleasure of picking up a swarm on a teee outside of Westwood QFC yesterday afternoon. A good 10,000 bees at least. I love it!!! That’s about $100 worth of free bees.

CMP June 16, 2008 (7:13 am)

I was playing tennis near Our Lady of Guadalupe church yesterday afternoon when a swarm of bees came through. It was quite a sight, as I didn’t expect bees to travel much from their home base. They were headed east across the tennis courts and over to 35th so watch out if you live near the water towers!

SS June 16, 2008 (11:50 am)

I saw a swarm in the alleyway behind our house in Highland Park on Saturday afternoon, easily hundreds of bees that stuck around for about 30 minutes and eventually swarmed around a neighbors tree. We thought for sure someone had disturbed a nest until Sunday, when we saw a smaller swarm AGAIN in our backyard! What a strange sight!

Sorry, comment time is over.