Monday, August 3, 2009

Bee invasion in Tampines Avenue 1

Bee invasion in Tampines Avenue 1
A shocked STOMPer saw this huge swarm of bees buzzing outside his apartment in Tampines two weeks ago.

According to the STOMPer, there were thousands of bees flying and hitting themselves against the windows in Tropica Condominium.

After contacting the pest control, Malcolm was told that there was a bee hive on the rooftop of the condominium.

He told STOMP via email today (Aug 3):

"Picture was taken from my room window.

"Looks just like in the 'Movies'.

"After that, it rained and the bees flew off.

"At the end of the day, dead bees were on the road outside the compound, they were basically everywhere.

"My neighbours and I were giving each other hand gestures to faster close the windows."

Related posts: Beware of the big beehive at Bedok North Ave 3! (3rd August 2009)
"It only took 12 hours for these bees to infest my house toilet" (24th April 2009)
Bees, bees and more bees at Clementi! (6th April 2009)
Several beehives in overhead bridge leading to SGH (16th February 2009)

Once again, it's almost impossible to identify the bee species involved without photos of the individual bees. An interesting fact is that between the months of June and September, large swarms of giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) suddenly gather in urban areas and then die, leaving their little carcasses everywhere. I have seen such an occurrence from time to time, although I cannot recall any further details besides encountering dead giant honeybees everywhere. It is currently not known why the bees do this, however.