15K Bees Cause Buzz At Ridgewood Starbucks

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — A local rescue mission involving thousands of bees is causing a bit of a buzz.

Ridgewood resident Frank "The Beeman" Mortimer helped safely remove a swarm of nearly 15,000 honeybees from outside of a local Starbucks on Monday, according to sources.

"Another day downtown," Mortimer captioned photos of him scaling about 30 feet in the air on a fire ladder to remove the bee colony. "Honestly, (I) felt like a kid going up in a fire truck."

Assisted by the Ridgewood Fire Department, the village's oft-considered "resident beekeeper" removed and relocated the swarm to a location in Glen Rock, on-scene witnesses said.

"Removing the swarm (was) important," Mortimer told Patch, "as it ensures the colony... will have a better chance to survive, as a beekeeper can tend to them and keep them healthy. Collecting a swarm also prevents further issues if they... decide to take up residence in someone's house, and prevents anyone from disturbing (or) harming them."

It all started when a Starbucks patron reported the situation to police, and Mortimer — proprietor of his own honey farm — was then called to contain the swarm, witness and local photographer Boyd Loving said.

Mortimer had safely removed the swarming bees within a half hour by sweeping the cluster (containing the queen) into a screened paperboard box, sources said.

"To say I love this would be an understatement," village Council Member Siobhan Winograd commented on the beekeeper's post. "Thank you Frank Mortimer for all that you do."