Heavy flight activity with many bees coming and going that do not bear pollen baskets containing pollen or propolis
Bees do not instinctively know where they live. They have to learn this before embarking on foraging trips to collect nectar or pollen. They learn their homesite via several orientation flights.
Bees memorize the precise location of the hive with relation to geographic landmarks. On subsequent foraging flights, the bees use these landmarks to return to the hive.
An orientation flight at the nest entrance begins as a departing bee turns and hovers back and forth, turning in short arcs oriented at the hive entrance. Then, the bee increases the size of the arcs until, after a few seconds, she flies in circles while ascending to heights of 5–10 meters above the ground. This spiraling flight takes the bee out of sight of human observers. She returns a few minutes later, always without nectar or pollen.
Orientation flights in the afternoon can fill the air with considerable flight activity.
Drones fly mainly in the afternoon and in spring once they reach mating age. Their mating flights can mean heavy flight activity at the entrance. Likewise, when major nectar plants are in full bloom, worker flight activity at the entrance can be heavy. Flight of workers and drones is more direct into and out of the entrance compared with orientation flights.
Capaldi EA and Dyer FC. 1999. The role of orientation flights on homing performance in honeybees. The Journal of Experimental Biology 202(12): 1655-1666.
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.202.12.1655
The Apiarist. n.d. Orientation flights. The Apiarist. Accessed 2023. https://www.theapiarist.org/orientation-flights/
