Saturday, April 20, 2013

Global Warming: Invaders

 
Someone's yard at Carcavelos
 
First we had the flying African Cockroach, then we had the Asian Beetle which is killing our Palm Trees. The Dengue Mosquito was recently found in Madeira Island and last summer our beaches were invaded by the super venomous Portuguese Man O'War (or Blue Bottle), a jellyfish-like marine cnidarian usually found in Central America. Now there's the Asian Wasp destroying beehives and killing all the bees.
I don't know if the insect shown above is a bee or a wasp, but I have never seen such a 'thing' in Portugal before.

28 comments:

Gunn said...

Unique.

Dina said...

Wow, you have been having some trouble. Good luck!

I have never seen one, but I think your photo shows a swarm cluster. My neighbors the monks raise bees and at certain times of year have to be on the lookout for swarming and go capture swarms.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarming_%28honey_bee%29

Sami said...

Looks scary!!

Arija said...

I too think this is a swarm cluster of some native bee. It looks much like our native bees which have been decimated by imported wasps and diseases.

Birdman said...

Now, you have me worrying. I better have another pint and contemplate this some more. Maybe beaches invaded by bikinis I could enjoy!

brattcat said...

fascinating but a bit unnerving.

Sylvia K said...

That is scary!! Can't help but wonder where our earth is headed. This is fascinating, but unnerving indeed!

TexWisGirl said...

it looks like a hive of bees has swarmed (i.e. moving to find a new location). it will be there for maybe a day and will got again.

Sharon said...

This is very scary. A couple of years ago I took a photo like this thinking it was a huge hive only to be told it was a bee swarm. Someone told me that if you get too close and they think they are in danger, they will attack all at once. That was enough to scare me off. If I ever see a swarm again I won't be pointing my camera in their direction. We have swarms of what is called "Africanized killer bees" that have shown up here and sometime they attack people and pets for no apparent reason. We hear about it on the news every now and then.

Laura. M said...

Nice picture ... and danger to get too close :))
Have a great weekend.
A hug.

Lowell said...

That is just plain scary. Aren't you glad that global warming is just a myth perpetrated by liberals so they can take over the world? ;)

We have a bee problem. Our good bees are being decimated by "killer bees" coming from further south. Bad situation.

This is a very dramatic shot!

RedPat said...

Very scary stuff! I'd be long gone.

Diane said...

I have seen African bees swarming like that. I am allergic to bees so I hot tail it in the opposite direction as fast as possible. Have a good Sunday Diane

Unknown said...

Aj aj aj happy not to see in alive !
Great shot !

Al said...

We have a lot of invasive weeds where I live, they take over from the native grasses. But something like that would scare me!

Karl said...

Fascinating shot, JM,
You were in a somewhat dangerous situation, I suppose...

Unknown said...

Somos los asesinos del medio, asi de contundente, bonita entrada.
Un saludo

Kovács Miklós said...

Oh my God, that's very frightful and you were quite brave when took this photo. Anyway that's a great shot.
Have a nice weekend.

VP said...

Scary! I heard that here it is happening with some fishes...

Kay said...

I agree: they look like a swarm of bees. They follow a queen and make a new hive. If a bee keeper is looking for more bees they will come and gather the swarm. Otherwise, they take off in a couple of days. We had a swarm like this in California. It was alarming, but gone soon enough.

Randy said...

Oh my!

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh, that is terrifying!

orvokki said...

It's really a big nest (of a bee or a wasp). It's really quite frightening It is not good to be near this nest..
I once had a nest in a balcony, but it was only the size of a golf ball.
Have a nice sunday.
Hugs

Cezar and Léia said...

ohmygod...sabes que me dá uma agonia no coraçao só de pensar!Eu sou totalmente alergica a picada de insetos, realmente um perigo pra mim! :(
*please, não se aproxime muito dessas abelhas!
Léia

Joan Elizabeth said...

I too think it is a swam. The only time I ever saw one I found it quite scary.

Australia being an island tries very hard to use it to our advantage in keeping unwanted pests at bay but the European Wasp, fire ants and other pests have recently arrived and despite a huge effort to kill of every outbreak just can't be stopped.

Hilda said...

Ohmylord, JM, I'm getting major creeps just looking at your photo.

Your infestations sound seriously nasty, and I wonder if anything can be done at all. :/

PerthDailyPhoto said...

OMG that's terrifying JM.. I seem to remember we had an invasion of Asian wasps a few years ago..I remember I had a hive in my garden, had to have them removed by experts..scary stuff.

Merisi said...

All those invaders are bad news, indeed. I know that Italian palms get killed by beetles brought into the country by cheap imports of palm trees from Asia. Maybe the other invaders are also caused by trading, sometimes they piggyback on ships or hide in containers of merchandise.

I grew up in the country and honey bees swarming was a regular occurrence. We informed the beekeeper who came and re-homed them before they set out to move away and build new colonies in the wild.

Wasps do not swarm, they build papery lantern-like nests, which can be quite large, but the wasps hide inside and don't hang around outside, so to speak.