[UPDATE BELOW] Yesterday, a swarm of bees descended upon a bicycle parked in Midtown, proving once and for all that Mother Nature is your greatest bike lock. The NYPD eventually shepherded those bees away, but it appears a new swarm has gathered atop a traffic light in the area. Midtown is already plagued with humans, must bees now add to the congestion?
Today's bee frenzy takes place on the corner of 54th and Broadway, where bees have created their own apiary between red and yellow on a traffic light—are bees capable of understanding metaphors? Urban beekeeper Andrew Cote is on the scene, as are a number of NYPD officers—we're told the NYPD's resident bee wrangler, Detective Higgins, is trying to assess the situation.
Cops on the scene. (Jen Chung/Gothamist)
According to Cote, today's bee madness is likely comprised of an "after-swarm" from yesterday's little bike situation. Cote estimates about 10,000 bees are hanging out near the traffic light right now—yesterday there may have been as many as 30,000 bees atop that bike. Comforting!
Swarm again 54 and Broadway
Posted by Andrew Cote on Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Mobile Capture Aug 5, 2015by Gothamist
An employee at a nearby Starbucks tells us bees have been swarming up Broadway for the last couple of weeks, and that this is the third swarm she's seen. Yesterday, former NYPD bee manager Tony "Bees" Planakis told us the bees are likely coming from nearby hives, since they tend to swarm within 100 to 150 feet of the mother hive—these bees are likely waiting for the whole hive to gather betwixt the traffic lights before scouts go off to find a home closer to a food source.
Meanwhile, the street looks like this:
The NYPD is #ONIT (Jen Chung/Gothamist)
But remember, kids, bees are both vital to our ecosystem and adorable!
(Jen Chung/Gothamist)
Reporting by Jen Chung.
Update 12:35 p.m.: We're not the only ones who find this onslaught of Midtown bees strange. Beekeeper Cote told us that most bee swarms occur in April and May. He echoed Planakis's assessment that today's bees likely came from an untended nearby hive that's running out of legroom.
As for more unsettling news, the NYPD confirmed that there's been an uptick in swarms lately. And as for now, they're the only agency equipped to handle all these bees—in most cities, beekeeping groups are dedicated to mitigating and caring for swarms.
Detective Higgins, whose desk job is in counter-terrorism, is now working with officers to safely capture and transport the all the bees out of the area.
Bee transfer by Gothamist
Andrew Cote with bees. (Jen Chung/Gothamist)
