Swarm of Bees at Mission San Juan Capistrano

I frequently drop by Mission San Juan Capistrano it get a little respite from the rest of the world. After wandering around the gardens a bit, I came across the largest swarm of bees I had ever seen (really). While a few folks were around, just a small number of us were in the area. Fortunately, I found an employee and alerted him to the "attack of the bees." Apparently, bees stop by on a regular basis to find a new home (there are a lot of flowers on the grounds) and I was told that this was probably the FIFTH (5th) swarm to show up this month although this was an exceptionally large one. So . . . I took out my trusty cell phone and started taking pictures and watch for good 30 minutes to an hour. While Mission patrons were alarmed (as was I), the employees seemed to be very used to this and some were quite close to the bees. I decided to get bit close myself and take a few videos (I had no idea how they would turn out) but didn't want to get too close. Seeing what I was doing, one of the employees offered to take my cell phone and get much closer than I was willing - this video is the result.

Other than the "titles" and a bit of appropriate music (smile), this video has not been altered. The sound heard on the video are the actual voices of the bees "singing" (although I did increase the volume before I uploaded it).

Finally, the bees had made two large balls - one under the arch, and another near wall (the bees where trying to make a nest inside the walls). Shortly after this video was taken, the ball of bees moved from the arch and joined their "friends" on the wall. Everyone assumed that this is where the queen bee was.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• bees
• San Juan Capistrano
• Mission
• swarm