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Kinda wondering if somebody oughta do a Hitchcock sequel to the Birds entitled, "Bees."
We had a "chore day" today. No nice long hike. Spent 6 hours running various errands.
Sooo...we were coming from Cottonwood to Camp Verde on Hwy. 260 approaching I-17.
There's a lot of construction going on there. Dust, congestion and all the usual stuff.

As we approached the I-17 overpass we saw something unusual in the "eye-level sky."

A ga-zillion bees. At first we thought they were just dust specks on our windshield. As we got closer, we recognized them and frantically cranked up our Suzuki's windows. It was a Hitchcock swarm of bees, for sure. We couldn't see the end of then when we looked left and we couldn't see the end of them when we looked right. We saw that they were stretched on a line running roughly parallel to the Verde River about .5-.75 mile to our left.

The bees looked much larger than normal "honey bees." Their legs all hung low and I could actually see their weird little faces as they buzzed about the Suzuki. It was REAL spooky!

We know from our media reading that the Africanized bees have spread this far north.
My first thought was that this was a "troop" of a-hole African bees scouting out a place to colonize.

After I got home and had some time to reflect on the whole deal, Susun and I got to talking.
Now, we are wondering if we have to "dial in" precautions about bees as well as rattlesnakes and all the rest of the ususal suspects.

Frankly, we'd rather not have to deal with bees but it seems to be a fact of life that some bad "a" bees are indeed spreading northward and taking over habitat that once belonged to benigh bees.

What are your thoughts?

Bees Here Now!

J&S

I grew up somewhat around bees in Oklahoma. I had an Uncle who kept several dozen hives and my grandmother kept a couple of hives by her fruit trees for pollenation. Anyway, what you saw was a swarm. That usually happens when the colony has outgrown it's current home. New queens will be produced and when one leaves a portion of the colony will leave with her. A swarm is usually pretty docile and easy to avoid. The bees are actually following the queen as she looks for a new home. Swarms will often alite in trees and form a huge ball of bees with the queen protected in the middle. I've seen my uncle capture such a swarm by cutting the branch and then shaking the bees into a hive. A couple of bees would sting him but the rest would worry about taking care of the queen. This is the main difference is seems with Africanized bees. If one gets angry, they all cop an attitude. Hundreds or thousands will attack at once. I have not run into a group of African bees but I did have one lone bee on South mountain who seemed pretty easily peeved. I chose the best defense which is to beat a hasty retreat. On level ground a healthy person can outrun a bee. You might have to run for 50 or more yards though. I once watched my brother get stung repeatedly by a bumble bee. He walked over it's nest and it hit him in the back. He dashed about 20 feet and stopped. The bee caught up and hit him again. This was repeated several times until I convinced him to run about 50 yards. That allowed him to get out of the bee's eyesight and escape further punishment. During the summer here I avoid taking sugared drinks with me on the trail. Bees can smell the sugar and will be attracted to it. Diet is fine because bees are not attracted to saccharine or aspartame. They are experts at sugars and not easily fooled. If I do take a sugared sports drink I am very careful not to spill any of it on me or the bottle and to keep the lid on when I am not actively drinking.

We sure appreciate your advice on the "distance to run." 50 yards ain't much, really. That's half a football field. And we especially appreciate the reminder about sugar(s). We're pretty sensitive to the "bug visuals" (aka yellow, red, etc.) but we hadn't thought much about the "scent of sugar!"
GREAT POINT! We've always heard mythologies about "regular bees" being docile toward humans.
We are just worried about their cousins with an "attitude." We haven't a clue as to tell the difference. We once read a story that African bees are so "Type A" that you can't even outrun them in a lake. Supposedly, you can jump in a lake and go underway and they will just hover overhead your buddles and C02 discharge/seepage waiting for you to surface. Not a pretty thought!
Well, thanks for posting a reply--it will be great "honey for thought" as we retire for the evevning.

J&S

My son's baseball practice was cut short the other day because a swarm of bees came thru the field. The school called the fire department, but we didn't hear what happened. Probably hosed 'm down with some nasty bug killer.

Spooky!! Glad you got the windows up in time.

It does not seem like too many years ago we were crying because there were not enough bees to polinate whatever needed polinating.

azhiker96 wrote: I have not run into a group of African bees but I did have one lone bee on South mountain who seemed pretty easily peeved.

How can you tell which is which? Living down here has kinda got me a little freaked going on hikes by myself thinking that the chances of running into one can happen. I've never seen one (not that I know of) and I wouldn't know if I saw it.

You can't tell the difference between and africanized bee and a regular one unless you have a microscope. They say Africanized bees fly lower, other then that the only difference is their breeding capabilities, honey output and their temper. It is safe to assume all honey bees you see are africanized. They make up something like 98% of the bees in the state.

I've heard this has been a real bad year for bees so far, and will probably get worse. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come in the future.

A little more bee safety:
When you get close to a hive, they will bump you as a warning. if you have bees bumping you, they are telling you to get away and you should probably listen.
Don't do like the cartoons and jump in a pool of water. They will wait for you to come up for air.
If you can get to your car, get in it and crank the AC up. The cold will break the spirit of any bees that followed you in the car.
This is important, never kill a bee!!! When you kill it, it releases it's stinger, which puts out a scent that tells the other bees to come over here and sting. If you kill that one bee bothering your picnic or hanging out in your yard, several others are likely to come.
Running 50 yards is probably far enough, but I'd keep running unitl I couldn't run anymore, or I couldn't see any more bees.

One more bit of bee advice, reason #48 to keep your dog on a leash while hiking...

A dog will not know to stay away from a hive and will not know to run when the stinging starts. Once the dog gets a few stings they will probably not listen to your frantic commands or follow you when you run. The dog's instincts will tell it to stay and fight and a dog can not win that fight.

Birds, great movie!

Thanks for the advice Daryl! This is stuff I have never heard before and it sounds like sound advice.

We never envisioned that this topic would generate so much useful and truly VITAL information!
WOW! We feel like we have been getting an education here and we hope that ANYONE reading these posts who has additional insights to offer DOES so. We are rather unsettled about both the African Bee Deal and West Nile Virus. Granted, bees and mosquitoes have nothing in common except their ability to inflict serious damage on the human species. However, today we read that the arrival of West Nile in AZ is a "given" this year. Whoop-Dee-Doo! Doesn't that make us feel a whole lot more comfortable camping near standing, still water in Arizona! NOT!

J&S

Daryl wrote:It is safe to assume all honey bees you see are africanized. They make up something like 98% of the bees in the state.

thats comforting to know. safe to say i wont sleep tonight

montezumawell wrote: However, today we read that the arrival of West Nile in AZ is a "given" this year.
J&S

What is this? I never heard of it? How did it get here? And what does it do?

the west nile is a mosquito-bite virus that can be fatal, but rarely is to humans

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/