Bees swarmed through Trader Joe's at about 7 p.m. Wednesday in Menlo Park, making a stop at one of the trees in the parking lot.
Bob Beaty, bee removal expert at Adkins, said people could expect to see more of this happening soon.
"The hive reproduces itself by throwing off swarms," Beaty told Patch. "It's annoying, but healthy. A lot of the food we eat depends on pollination," he explained, noting that it is the season for hive growth.
Beaty said that bees will fill their hives with food and new bees until capacity. When the hive is full, the queen will take about 1/3 of the hive and start a new colony elsewhere. As they did Wednesday, sometimes they end up in odd places.
"Occasionally they end up in a car," he said. "They traditionally look for rotted out old trees, but those get cut down pretty fast these days."
Trader Joe's employees said the bees appeared out of nowhere, landed on a car and then flew into the tree. A beekeeper from Half Moon Bay was called to remove them.
You can see how that looked in the photo taken by Patch fan Kathy Schrenk. (Thanks for sharing this with us, Kathy!)
TJ's employees said the beekeeper was planning to take the bees home to nurture a new colony. No one reported being stung.
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