Massive swarm of 16,000 bees removed from New York City tree

NEW YORK, May 27 (UPI) -- A mighty swarm of bees assembled about a branch of a tree at West 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue in New York City's Upper West Side.

The gathering was noticed by Andrew Coté, a member of the NYC Beekeepers Association. On another day, he said, he might have just shaken the tree to get them to disperse.

But pedestrians were strolling the streets in large numbers on Memorial Day and Coté thought better of it. Instead, he called the police. Luckily, the NYPD have a resident beekeeper on staff, Detective Anthony Planakis.

Planakis carefully vacuumed up the bees -- more than 16,000 of them -- boxed them, and transported them to a plushy new venue -- a hive atop the roof of the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

"This is swarm season," Planakis said. "We had a really heavy pollen season here."

Last week Planakis -- who's been on the job for 38 years -- removed some 18,000 bees from a bus stop; he expects his work to continue in the coming summer months.