The Bees

[rebeccmeister]

I think that during the ride I managed to get out most of my need to be self-congratulatory about organizing today's Bike&Hike event, so I'll keep that to a minimum now and just tell you about the craziest part. If I get my act together, I might have a few pictures from the expedition.

Instead, here's the gist of things: we rode our bicycles from downtown Tempe to the trailhead of Cholla Trail (there were even bike racks available, despite the absence of parking!), and then hiked/clambered about 1.5 miles up to the top of Camelback Mountain, where we were treated to a panoramic view of PHX, Scottsdale, and surroundings (suburbia almost as far as the eye could see! Glittering automobiles and swimming pools everywhere!). I think my dad would have enjoyed this urban style of hiking, even though the sound of cars traveling around below didn't diminish as we reached the summit.

At the top, we luncheoned on an incredibly delicious picnic: hummus and carrots, ants on a log, empanadas, beets, tortilla chips, oranges, strawberries, two kinds of cookies, and two kinds of cake. We eat well. There were no other picnickers among our fellow hikers, but we had no shortage of company at the summit--lots of over-fit young adults and a couple of families with kids. D brought along her insect net to try and catch Dipterans (flies) for her entomology class, which inspired remarks that at the summit we should be able to find a lot of hilltopping insects, as well as hilltopping humans (hilltopping is a behavior whereby animals gather at high points to meet up and mate).

Just as we were finishing up our lunch, a large cloud of insects suddenly started to grow on one side of the hill, and someone screamed, "BEES!" It took a moment for us to even realize what was happening: a swarm of Africanized honey bees had appeared on one side of the mountain, then sped up and across the top of the hill, on their way to somewhere. Our gang, nestled underneath a small tree with stuff strewn everywhere slightly off to one side, wasn't quite sure how to react as our fellow hikers all scrambled away from the top of the hill in a state of panic.

Since the bees looked like a swarm, I figured they were probably not as harmful as our fellow hikers imagined, and shouted at people to stay calm as they tried to get out of the way (admittedly, they were still quite terrifying). Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the swarm crested over the top of the hill and was gone, racing onward to some unknown destination. We were left still sitting there, somewhat dumbfounded by the whole event, but managed to recover our appetites, finished our lunch, hiked back down, and rode our bicycles home again.

We are most definitely going to go on more Bike&Hike expeditions in the future, though I hope to never have the same sort of encounter with bees ever again.

Comments

bees

[(Anonymous)]

You wrote, "I hope to never have the same sort of encounter with bees ever again."
It sounds to me like a quite interesting encounter, so I'm curious: why do you hope it never happens again?
Love,
Dad

Re: bees

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

It's just hard to distinguish between such swarms and attacks by angry bees, and the fear factor involved wasn't entirely pleasant. I'm actually a bit surprised I wasn't more afraid.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

lol. I was waiting to read the insect biologist say she panicked because of the bees.

But dude, you shouldn't eat your pets!

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

A hive has taken shelter in a spare 50 gallon drum next to my place. They are not Africanized-- I can stand about 4-5 feet from the hive and they don't attack-- but they are busy when it's warm. I need to get a beekeeper to take them out, because I can't see killing the bees due to the drop in the bee population and their role in pollination.

I just wish I knew more beekeepery so I could get their honey.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, yes, sounds like they're not Africanized...so far...

And with respect to the bee population: remember that you're watching European honey bees. They are not native. There are thousands of other native species of bees that aren't suffering from so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (which is a questionable ailment because most likely it's just a continuation of a number of ongoing problems). So I think it would be fine if they had to be killed, though of course sad as it is sad whenever we must kill anything for the sake of our own comfort and survival.

There are actually some bee supply places around town that could set you up with a bee suit and a smoker. But training on how to collect and extract the honey would be necessary as well, so never mind.

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

How do I know I'm watching European bees and not native bees?

Most of the "working" hives I've seen are set up with drawer-like sections to pull out for comb extraction. These are in a sawed-off 50 gallon drum with some plywood on top. I think they've fused some comb to it. In very cold weather, I've tried shifting it around just to see what I can get away with and it seemed heavy enough-- or attached enough to the drum-- that I didn't want to mess with it anymore.

So far, it hasn't been a problem. I wouldn't mind taking some macro shots of the bees, but my camera has to be close and I would have to don beekeeping gear.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

To the best of my knowledge, none of the native bees form such enormous hives--they have much smaller hives that are much less conspicuous, and most are solitary, not social. Here's a pretty awesome-looking website on all of the other kinds of bees in Arizona, and how to encourage them.

And yeah, it sounds like it would be hard to get into that hive--you'd probably have to take a crowbar to the top--it's common for the bees to glue everything together, because they'd prefer it if you didn't get inside. They're pretty hard to photograph because they also move around quite a bit.

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

There are lenses combining telephoto and macro functions, but most of my bee shots have been lucky occurrences.

[(Anonymous)]

You should be self-congratulatory! You did a great job organizing that ride, and I'm looking forward for more! :)