Members of the press were left in near dis-bee-lief Friday when they were confronted with an unexpected obstacle at the White House.
“Walked into the White House and a swarm of bees were blocking the driveway,” NewsNation White House reporter Kellie Meyers wrote on X. “Time to turn around.”
Fox News White House reporter Alexandria Hoff posted, “So a huge swarm of bees just briefly took over the north lawn driveway at the White House.” In her video showing just that, a voice can be heard describing the spectacle as a “bee tornado.”
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Reuters published a photo of the flying insects snapped by freelance journalist Andrew Leyden, who also shared a video on X of the “White House press corps” taking “a moment to dodge the bee swarm.” Meanwhile, Fox Business reporter Edward Lawrence estimated there were “thousands” of bees present.
Honeybees have been kept on the White House grounds since 2009, when White House carpenter and pollinator enthusiast Charlie Brandt founded a beekeeping program. Last month, first lady Melania Trump showed off a new beehive, shaped like a miniature version of the White House, on the property.
Social media was, naturally, abuzz with jokes on Friday.
“Bee best,” wrote CBS reporter Kathryn Watson, a reference to first lady Melania Trump’s anti-cyberbullying campaign.
Other jokes hinged on the idea that a swarm of bees is a foreboding sign.
“Probably just a coincidence but if the Potomac suddenly turns to blood we’ll have to reevaluate,” quipped The Bulwark’s Andrew Egger.
Some posts, and even news coverage, referred to the bees as “angry” or “attacking” the White House. But in reality, honeybee swarms are not aggressive.
Swarms happen when a colony gets a new queen. The old queen then takes off with a portion of the hive’s worker bees in search of a new place to call home.
“Swarming bees are actually non-threatening and the swarming behavior is a natural means for bees to reproduce,” wrote entomologist Tim Gibb in 2022.
However, he noted, the bees may still sting if someone provokes them.