Macronaut Loc: Redondo Beach,Ca.

Douglass and I ran across this hive on Saturday 4/2.

1). No crop with Sigma 150-mm macro lens

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2). Crop of #1

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Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

This migrating swarm was the size of a football, integrated in the needles on a pine tree branch, about 8-feet above the ground. I unsuccessfully tried shooting 1:1 Live View at arms-length, but settled for just aiming my 105-mm macro lens in the general direction, and relied on A-F.

infestation Loc: Brampton, Cumbria, UK

I can imagine that it was an impressive sight

tinusbum Loc: east texas

cool! one stopped in my back yard a couple years age.called a bee keeper and he was happy to adopt them

napabob Loc: Napa CA

catching a buzz for reals.........

pfrancke Loc: cold Maine

just stunning!!!

Muddyvalley Loc: McMinnville, Oregon

:thumbup: More correctly called a swarm. The current queen leaves the hive with 50-60% of young workers who have gorged on honey, & flies a short distance away and forms a ball off bees with the queen inside. These send out scouts who look for & actually measure the size of potential hive bodies. They come back to the ball & depending on the degree of excitement, they convince other scouts to check it out. Eventually majority rules, they decide on one & the scouts lead the swarm by flying in horizontal loops around the swarm and towards the new hive.
The swarm is quite docile as they have no hive to protect, and they have eaten so much honey (needed for the trip & to build new comb) that it is actually physically hard for them to sting. This can change if they don't find a home soon enough & get hungry. The majority of swarms Even the Africanized swarms (which you have in your area) are pretty gentle. (at first).
Sorry, I got carried away. Didn't mean to hijack the thread, and I resisted the urge to add a photo. :-)

Photog21 Loc: Lombard, Il.

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