New York police said a beekeeper was called in after a swarm of bees began forming a hive on top of a newspaper vending machine on the Upper East Side.

Police said they received numerous calls Wednesday afternoon from citizens reporting "bumblebees in a bus shelter," and "bees on the phone booth" near the intersection of East 75th Street and Second Avenue, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Volunteer beekeeper Jim Fischer of the Bronx Zoo was brought in to contain the insects using water and a teargas-like "bee-smoker" box.

"It's how they reproduce," he said of the swarm. "Somewhere around here, there's another hive of bees. This one broke off and followed the queen." (c) UPI