Amazing sight

[garprob]

I saw the coolest thing yesterday. I went out by the hives last night at about dusk- and it turns out is was also about 15 minutes before it started raining. As I got closer to the hives I noticed A LOT of bees returning to the hives from all directions. Thousands of them coming in all at the same time. I knelt down by the hives and looked up at about a 50-60 degree angle and for the space of several minutes watched thousands of bees flying straight at me and landing on the hives next to me. It was really amazing. I have never seen that before.

I kind of wondered if they just decided to come back for the evening all at the same time or if they sensed that the rain was about to start and that caused them all to return at once. Anyway, it was pretty neat.

The alfalfa and Russian olives have just started blooming so I'm sure that they were all out working hard collecting nectar as I didn't see any pollen on their legs. Let the honey production begin!

[Ben Franklin]

I would think that it was a combination of both the rain coming and the time of day. I too have watched the bees to try to see where they were coming and going to. But they are to quick for me to follow.

[wadehump]

they knew the rain was coming

[Paul McCarty]

I have seen that before. They sense the barometric pressure drop and smell the rain and all fly back in at once - making a giant bee jam.

[Acebird]

My wife and I were just discussing what the bees do in a torrential downpour. Our bees fly and forage in a gentle rain so we know they are out there when we get these spot downpours. My only thought is they either find some cover in the woods or they fly around the showers. We have never seen a mad dash for the hive.

[jmgi]

Many times I have seen the bees pouring back into the hive all at once coming from all directions, its a pretty neat thing to see, most of the time it isn't evening raining at the hives yet but wherever they are foraging far away it must be raining which sends them home in a rush. When it happens it really gives you a good idea how many bees are out there at a time from each hive, because they just keep coming and coming for about 5 minutes or so before it slacks off. John

[beeG]

Bee's give \ a better weather forcast then what we get on TV. I tend to go out to my bees when I hear weather is coming to see what they are doing. If they are flying out I know we are not going to get any serious weather. They beat the weather man every time.