The bees caused a buzz of excitement on Manhattan's Upper East Side, before being corralled by the police department's beekeeper.
The bees had built a giant hive in a tree, and when the queen bee went sightseeing, the entire swarm followed.
The New York Post quotes one man as saying there was a "a 3 foot column of bees."
The bees were supposed to be taken to a farm in Connecticut to pollinate.
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