There is something inherently insect-like about the New York City commute: swarms of people crammed together into subway cars, piling into elevators, buzzing around the streets. To make the metaphor literal, 20,000 European honeybees joined the commute this morning, blocking the entrance to Vox Media’s headquarters in downtown Manhattan.
Passersby stopped to marvel at the scene, phones in hand, snapping pictures. “Oh my gosh!” a woman shrieked. “New York City!” someone else yelled. “Yeah! Save the bees!” shouted a young woman with short, blond hair and colorful tights.
Hovering around the scene was beekeeper Katherine Morris, wearing a white hazmat suit and army green All Stars. She was waiting for another beekeeper to arrive — Andrew Coté, an independent beekeeper who works for Andrew’s Honey and sometimes helps out the city — so that the swarming bees could be scooped up in a bucket and carried to another beehive.
But why were the bees commuting, and why here?
Swarming is common when the temperatures rise, Morris explained. In fact, there have been dozens of swarming incidents already this season in New York City, according to Coté. “This is as natural as a kitten up a tree,” he says.