Yesterday a swarm of about 5,000 bees descended upon a Learning Annex catalog box on 2nd Avenue and East 76th Street. Although it’s possible that the bees were interested in learning the ten secrets to real estate success or brushing up on their speed reading skills, the swarm most likely arrived at the box after it split with a new queen bee from a hive close by, but had trouble locating a new home.
Police and fire officials cordoned off the area, and Bronx Zoo volunteer Jim Fisher sprung into action to help the bees (and the nerves of skittish predestrians). Fisher wet the bees with a spray-bottle of water to keep them grounded, and 
with a smoker and small broom gathered the bees into a cardboard box. Once the queen bee was swept into the box most of the remaining bees followed her inside.
The boxed bees will be taken to an apiary north of New York City and rehoused in a more hospitable environment. Wish them luck, because entire populations of honey bees have been mysteriously disappearing from individual and commercial beekeeping operations across the nation since the autumn of 2006. Researchers don’t yet know why so many bees are disappearing and have termed the phenomenon ‘Colony Collapse Disorder.’ If a remedy cannot be found, an agricultural and food crisis may ensue as commercial farmers struggle to keep crops pollinated.
More on the incredibly serious questions about Colony Collapse Disorder can be found here, and for more about the incredibly ridiculous 1978 disaster film “The Swarm,” in which Michael Caine tries to save the city of Houston from a giant swarm of killer bees, click here.
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Did you take those pictures yourself? They are terrifying! But also really pretty.
I think the bees were probably attracted by the inevitable Trump seminar at the Annex…