Seneca Kristjonsdottir scored some free honeybees and did a good deed, hauling off a queen and about 2,000 workers and drones that had attracted a wary swarm of humans on downtown Denver’s 16th Street Mall.
Kristjonsdottir’s friend Jason Haas happened to be walking by Thursday afternoon as police officers discussed how to collect the bees from the sidewalk near the Denver Pavilions.
Haas phoned Kristjonsdottir, who pedaled her bicycle downtown, about 10 minutes away, towing an ice chest on a small trailer.
Kristjonsdottir, 20, Haas, 25, and Oliver Ceelan, 22, collected the bees, scooped up the queen and others in a dustpan, and deposited them in the cooler for transport to a new hive.
Brave members of the excited crowd snapped pictures with their cellphones or stole a close- up peek at the massive, writhing colony, then retreated.
“I wanted to see, but I didn’t want to get stung,” said Terry Angely.
Haas and Ceelan, as it turned out, were the only ones stung in the encounter.
“It’s actually a pretty small clump,” said Kristjonsdottir, who has been keeping bees for about three years.
Police officers kept the spectators at bay while the three worked. One officer explained that the bees were in a nearby tree the day before but apparently followed the queen to the pavement near the Barnes & Noble bookstore and Corner Bakery Cafe about 3:15 p.m.
On the Front Range, it’s the season for humans to make room for homeless bees, said Bill Walker, operations manager for Loveland-based Enviro- Pest, which removes honeybees.
Honeybees clumped in unusual places are common from April to June, he said, as they outgrow their hives. A new queen departs and takes a portion of drones and workers with her, he said.
“They’re not out to sting anybody,” he said. “They’re just trying to move their queen and find a new home.”
