[Heinlein]

I got this picture from my mother in Selma, OR. My bee club in Washington thinks they are not honeybees. If honeybees, why are they on the ground, and have been for a couple days now?

 

[snapper1d]

I expanded the pic the best I could and from what I can see they look like honeybees.The may have found a good cavity in the side of that hill.

 

[AR Beekeeper]

That is probably a swarm with a queen that is too weak to fly. It looks like part of the group is on a limb of the bush close to the bees on the ground. When the queen tries to fly and can't, she goes to the ground and the other bees cluster around her.

 

[elmer_fud]

I think it is a ground swarm. Some swarms go into sprinkler boxes and other places on the ground. At the swarm meeting at the local bee club they said that if you set a box over a ground swarm the swarm will usually recognize it as a new house and climb into it.

 

[elmer_fud]

Here is a thread with a swarm in a water meter box https://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?354495-Just-a-Tiny-Amount-of-Bee-Quick

 

[Heinlein]

I sent them a link to the local swarm hotline, and the bees have been moved. You can see here:
https://www.facebook.com/SiskiyouFieldInstitute/posts/10156371136672877