Photo by Tia Channell - Honey bees swarmed Raymond City Hall in August 2018.
April showers bring May flowers is how the old saying goes and with flowers comes bees. The Willapa River Beekeeping Club is asking residents who come across a swarm to not kill them but instead, call beekeeper Dutch Holland who will respond promptly to catch the swarm.
A little about bee swarms
Swarms begin when an older queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees. In the spring and summer bee colonies can expand very rapidly and the room will quickly become limited due to the number of bees and space needed. The older queen then decides to leave with about half of the bees inside the hive. A younger queen remains with the other half of the bees.
The swarm then will leave the hive to an interim location while scout bees search out a more permanent location for the new colony. The scouts and the rest of the bees will then debate amongst themselves about the location choices and then make their permanent move to settle the colony.
Raymond City Hall swarm of 2018
City workers at Raymond City Hall along with a police chief from Raymond, an officer, and some curious residents were able to see first hand what a swarm looked like. On an early morning, last June a swarm of bees decided to temporarily relocate to the city hall building. Bees by the thousands swarmed the area as a queen decided to perch on a tree on the side of the offices. This had been the second time in recent memory city hall had been chosen for a swarming spot.
City Worker Tia Channell attempted to call in beekeepers most of the day until South Bend Police Officer Lucas Stigall and Pacific County Sheriff's Office Deputy Jon Ashley responded to the call, both off work of course and beekeepers themselves. The duo backed up a pickup truck to the tree and shook the swarm into a bucket. They left the bucket overnight and picked up the colony of bees in the morning.
The importance of bees
Bee populations have diminished countrywide in recent years and the decline has scientists concerned what the overall impact will be. Bees are the world's most important pollinator of food crops. It's estimated that close to one-third of all the food that humans consume is pollinated by bees. Without helpful pollinators, plants would be unable to be fertilized. Ultimately making them unable to flower and produce seeds which is a worry though that has scientists calling for change.
Many pesticide products have been accredited with declines in bee population including carbaryl that was removed from the approved pesticides to combat ghost shrimp in Willapa Bay. Even normal consumer grade pesticides have been known to get onto a single bee and destroy an entire colony. Climate change, overgrazing, and the introduction of commercial pollinators are also suspected of bee population declines.
The Bumble Bee Survey
The Xerces Society with the Pacific Northwest Bumblebee Atlas is conducting another survey this year with the goal of documenting the current state of bumblebee populations in Washington and other states. The survey was designed after the overall importance of the role of bumblebees became clear. There are a limited number of scientists available to cover the dense Washington landscape, so they are asking volunteers to help look and document bumblebee sightings.
Volunteers can adopt a grid cell near them and then take part in an online training session. They then are asked to take at least two trips out to their adopted cell to look for bumblebees and then report back their findings. The goal is to not only help scientists out who are working to save the bees but also help conservation efforts in Washington state.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help the survey can find additional information and sign up at www.pnwbumblebeeatlas.org.
Beekeeper Dutch Holland can be reached at 360-942-7830 and will respond promptly to capture bee swarms.