Why are there bee swarms buzzing through NYC and what to do if you see one

Bee warned.Hordes of bees have been flocking to planters, trash bins and even bicycles around Midtown Manhattan this season, according to multiple social media posts and videos capturing the “biblical” swarms.“It’s a fascinating and terrifying experience,” said Nick Rozak, head beekeeper at the nonprofit Bee University NYC and Staten Island chapter president of the New York Bee Club.“You’re standing there, and there’s 20 or 30,000 bees in a tornado flying through Midtown Manhattan.

It’s definitely going to make people pay attention.”More than 200 species of bees call Gotham’s trees, light poles and buildings home, according to the city’s Health Department — and much like their human counterparts, summer serves as peak time for them to find a new home and food sources, resulting in swarms.“A colony of thousands of bees may form a swarm when it is time to leave their hive and form a new one,” according to the city website, adding that bee swarms may land on a “stationary object” in the process.But Rozak asserts the bees aren’t setting up a new home on bicycles or traffic lights, and worker bees are just “hanging out waiting for further instructions” while scout bees actively look for more hospitable spots for a permanent hive.Dramatic videos of Midtown swarms this season were first reported last month near West 38th Street and Seventh Avenue, per PIX 11, while others have since been spotted near Radio City Music Hall on Sixth Avenue.While Nick Hoefly, certified master beekeeper and New York Bee Club administration director, told The Post that swarming behavior is “very regular” for bees, he noted that Midtown’s swarming is easy to see due to a lack of greenery.A surge in Manhattan’s corporate rooftop beehives also led to a density in bees that’s a “little higher than what Midtown can handle,” he added.“The swarming may be a little more than they would be regularly, but it’s not a wild thing that we’re seein...