Been watching bees flying to and from the bee tree .5 mile behind the house. Short Video: http://s113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/FeralBeeProject/?action=view¤t=Bee\ tree2011.mp4 I never notice these bees doing any orientation flights, instead, they exit and fly straight up to one of two openings in the tree tops, that are over 60 feet in height. The bees return to the hive using one of these two openings. It is logical that they do this, due to the hazards posed in traversing through the canopy of branches, spiderwebs etc. The question arises, are they orientating to the opening in the canopy, perhaps doing a few orientation circles above this opening? OR is orientation to the tree cavity? OR is there no need for orientation flights when leaving home base? The bees have to know where this opening is located, they need to know where to enter. So I'm suspecting some type of orientation is going on above the canopy. If they are doing orientation circles above the canopy, then would directional coordinates communicated in dances be using the canopy opening as a starting point and not hive location? Any manuscripts related to orientation would be greatly appreciated. Best Wishes, Joe Waggle *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm