[LEPS-L:7892] Re: An encounter with honeybees

[Doug Yanega]

It is normal for honeybee swarms to form "bivouacs" of the sort you
describe, though yours sounds unusually large compared to what we see here
in North America with Apis mellifera (yours are almost certainly A. cerana,
if they're wild bees). They will rest in one spot for one to several days
while scouts go out in search of potential nesting sites. If the scouts
find a decent spot, the entire swarm moves as a unit, so rapid appearance
and departure of the entire mass of bees is typical.

Peace,


Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
           http://entmuseum9.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82



 
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