Wildlife Month Continues to Take a Turn for the Worse – Bee Swarm Near H Street, NE

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by Prince Of Petworth July 17, 2013 at 12:45 pm 14 Comments

bee_swarm
Previous Bee swarm in Ledroit Park from May 2012

Yesterday we talked about the dangers of deer on DC’s roads. And today @HStreetDC_ tweets:

“Watch out for swarming bees at 12th/G NE, just off #HStDC. Neighbors trying to get beekeepers out to round ’em up since city won’t.”

anon

Unbeelievable!
Anonymous

noooooooooooooo!
ET

I saw somewhere that area beekeepers wanted people to call if they had unwanted bees because bee populations at local hives are down because of colony collapse disorder.
Anonymous

Looks like the profile of a sasquatch.
- Anonymous
  
  Yes!
annonny

What is this, ’70’s disaster flick week? Next we’ll see an invasion of spiders and/or an attack of a huge cloud of birds descend onto the city? Can we get a shark-nado to spin its way up the Potomac?
eric

Yeah, hope a beekeeper can go get this colony. I’ve yet to see many bees this year with the exception of the occasional bumblebee.
zenalex

Your guns are useless against them!!
andy

Wu-Tang, is that you?
Maggie

For swarms like this the easiest thing to do is send an email to [email protected]. There are many local beekeepers who are more than happy to take care of a swarm like this. Though I do have bees, unfortunately, I don’t have experience in catching swarms yet!

And, although this looks scary, those bees are extremely docile in a swarm state. They’ve just gorged themselves on honey and are resting while scout bees go out in search of a permanent home. That said, I wouldn’t recommend for someone inexperienced to try and catch a swarm. 🙂
Anonymous

ughhhh this reposted picture brings back bad memories…I was tasked with opening that door when this happened last year (didn’t realize at the time swarming bees are rather docile).
Dc Bees

Just so you know, we got this very peaceful and LARGE swarm with NO STINGS to anyone, beekeeper or normal citizen, and the bees now live in a hive at an Earth Conservation Corps facility near the river (essentially, the Ritz-Carlton for bees).

We are tremendously grateful when someone spots a swarm of bees and lets us know, and we do our very best to help them continue their important work in places where people won’t freak out.

We can do this with most swarms, and would like very much to find a way to help the general public be less afraid of mankind’s one and only trusted insect partner, from whom — meateater, vegan, or in-between — 1/3 of your food comes, and a whole bunch of the food that supports wildlife, too.
- justinbc
  
  You don’t trust ladybugs?
Anonymous

That is a big pile of nope. Is there any reason bees would pick a particular place to swarm? There don’t even seem to be flowers/plants in that area.

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