ABJ Cover
ABJ APRIL 2022 Cover
Elaine Timm of Lebanon, Oregon, took our cover photo last April in her Willamette Valley bee yard. “It was,” she says, “my first chance to do inspections after a rainy spell. It was memorable for two reasons. First, because this was the first swarm in a THREE swarm day — ugh! The second swarm went to blackberry brambles, and the third went to the same spot in the holly tree, after I had caught the first one.
“Second, because although I had seen swarms clustered up before, this was the first time I had ever seen a swarm exit the colony and form. I was doing an inspection and remember looking at the colony to the north of me thinking, wow those are some pretty serious orientation flights, and then a few minutes later hearing THAT sound. Which is what … probably 30,000 bees with four wings each beating 200 times per second? Astounding.”
