From Tina in Gatewood, a report outside the usual lost-and-found bounds:
We live on the 3500 block of SW Ida and have a few bee boxes. Our bees swarmed today and before the beekeeper could collect them, they flew off. If anyone sees the swarm, we would love to get them back home.
If you see the swarm, let us know and we’ll connect you.
Probably no longer useful, but they were sighted near Roxhill Elementary around 5pm (so heading east).
Oerthehillz may be pleased to know that honeybees swarms are quite docile. They have no home to defend, their bodies are full of honey they stocked up on for the journey. They are neat to see.If you see a honeybee swarm and you don’t want it and you don’t know whose it is, Puget sound beekeepers has a swarm list with someone who will def come catch em.
I don’t know if this will help to track them down or not but we had a swarm fly over our house on 31st and Holden around 6:15 pm. They were headed east toward 30th and EC Hughes Park.
Tis the season. The swarms I have had in the past have been found pretty close to home. Gathering up in a neighbors tree or on a fence for a day or so while scout bees search for a new home. Unfortunately sometimes they end up pretty high up in a big tree where it’s difficult to get them back.I hope they are found. If there are bees left in the hive your keeper can advise.
Thanks everyone. Mostly I just want to be sure that if people see a honey bee swarm, that most likely someone is missing them. Please call a bee keeper rather than spray them. They are docile when they swarm. Enjoy the spectacle. Our swarm was high up in a tree and then they headed east!
Honeybees are NOT like Wasps or Hornets and are pretty chill as long as you don’t threaten them.
Wasps and Hornets on the other hand, will sting you for merely looking at them. They are A-Holes with wings and serve no useful purposes as they are NOT pollinators!!!
So be kind to the Honeybees and learn to tell the difference between them and Wasps and Hornets.
Wasps and hornets are absolutely useful and do pollinate. They don’t deserve this bad reputation.Unlike some other species, they are incapable of malicious intent.
This is misinformation. Wasps and hornets are both important pollinators and provide a number of other benefits to our ecosystems as both predators and prey. They may be more willing to defend their space than honeybees, but they are all important and you’d be hard pressed to effectively argue that any animal is an “a-hole” just for existing and reacting to our presence defensively.
Wasp are opportunistic pollinators and that IS not their main function.
They are A-HOLES with wings!!!
Read up:
“Wasp pollination occurs as an incidental byproduct of their search for nectar, the high-energy fuel adult wasps require for flying and hunting. Unlike bees, which deliberately collect pollen to feed their larvae, most wasps are carnivorous, provisioning their young with paralyzed insects or spiders. Wasps largely lack the specialized, branched hairs (scopa) that allow bees to efficiently gather and transport pollen grains.
Pollen transfer by wasps is typically an opportunistic process. When a wasp lands on a flower to drink nectar, pollen grains stick to its relatively smooth body, mouthparts, and legs due to physical contact. As the wasp moves to another flower, it brushes off this inadvertently collected pollen, facilitating fertilization. This method makes the average wasp a less efficient pollinator than a bee, but their activity is sufficient for the reproduction of some plants, such as milkweed or figwort.”
I wonder if the people in Arbor Heights, on 102nd, still have their swarm. Haven’t heard anything in a few years.
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