Bee Rescue Downtown

By Tara Z.

Monday morning I noticed a flurry of bees hovering around the top/south-facing side of my neighbor’s orange tree (as seen from my 2nd-story kitchen window which overlooks my neighbor’s garden).

It was early, and I thought “hmmm, perhaps it is a small swarm of bees that are shimmying through the area and will be gone soon, or possibly the tree is having a second bloom and the bees are attracted to the nectar.” There’s been so much destruction of natural habitats and local flora from the fires and mudslides, it stands to reason that bees are on the move.

Later, in the day, around 2:00 pm I was again at my kitchen window and noticed the bees were still flitting about when I saw what appeared to be a football-sized Beehive in the tree! Now let’s be clear: I’m no expert, but so far as I know, honey bees don’t make hives that quickly or like this in trees, especially since just last week I had climbed up and into that tree and was on my neighbor’s roof to help shake and pluck ripe oranges from the top. If there were a hive in progress I would have noticed (see pic on the left from last week on their roof).

From my garden-facing windows, I attempted to take pics of this “hive” which was plain as day to the naked eye, but hard to capture with my phone’s camera.

As luck would have it, the neighbor on the other side of this garden is a former (now part-time) beekeeper (and a teacher in Carpinteria, bless you sir!). My immediate neighbor suggested asking him to check it out…which he did and confirmed it to be a “swarm” of bees who are protecting their Queen while they find a permanent place to dwell. With the queen safe in the swarm cluster on the tree branch, a few dozen scout bees will shimmy out to find a new suitable, permanent nest location. 

He said they will usually leave within a few hours to a few days max until their scouts find their new permanent home.

My neighbor also assured me that when the bees are in this mode they are “non-aggressive” (unless provoked, of course, but even then they’re at diminished capacity). He said if the swarm isn’t gone in the next day or so he would assist to relocate them (humanely) to a nearby beekeeper’s farm.

Santa Barbara has seen so much devastation these last few months — it is great to see nature doing what it does: survive! And a testament to our community to work within nature’s and our own boundaries to recover together.