Woman bugged by swarm of bees

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- She returned to her son’s home from shopping Tuesday to

find a small, black cloud floating above the swing set in the backyard.

After a closer look, Lavell Kish, who is visiting from South Carolina,

realized the cloud was actually a swarm of bees.

“It was quiet an hour later,” she said, safe behind the sealed windows of

her son’s kitchen. “But then I noticed a big, brown cluster on the

hibiscus tree outside.”

The menacing clump was still there Wednesday.

Kish said she called a bee exterminator Tuesday, who told her the bees

would move along in a matter of days.

David Marder, a Laguna Beach bee remover contracted by the city to remove

swarms from public areas, said the tree is just a rest stop in a long

journey for the bees. At this time of year, bees are on a quest for a

cool, dark place to nest.

“We’ve had great rains, [so] we’re going to have a nice migration,”

Marder said. “The leader bees decide to land on the tree and the others

follow. It’s best to kill them when they land.”

Otherwise, Marder said, they might build a honeycomb in the walls of

homes. And then it can be tough to get them out.

Africanized honeybees, which Marder said are abundant in Costa Mesa, are

very territorial. He said they’ll protect an area as large as 200 yards

around their hive. He could not confirm if the bees in Kish’s backyard

were Africanized honeybees.

But Marder said the Africanized honeybees, also known as “killer bees,”

aren’t any more dangerous than the more common European honeybees.

“They’re not like the media portrays them,” Marder said. “As long as the

resident takes care of them right away, they have nothing to worry

about.”

But that’s no consolation for Kish, who squished a rogue bee that had

flown into the kitchen:

“I wish they’d go away.”

Marder urged people with bee problems to call licensed bee-removal

specialists only.

“This is a job for professionals,” he said.