Adrian:
> After all, when a swarm moves through the air, almost all bees are flying 
> pretty much in circles, being led as a whole by bees that have flown 
> repeatedly to the target site.

That does not explain the behaviour of a swarm during the time when it is 
clustered and scouts are looking for the new nest site.  We can watch 
dancing scouts trying to recruit for different sites and then gradually 
coming to a consensus with many bees dancing for the same site (to which the 
swarm moves - and which we can predict).  All this can happen in quite 
strong winds which would remove any odour trails immediately - or even light 
winds which would, presumably, send bees off in the wrong direction and 
cause chaos!  The wind can be at right-angles to the direction of the chosen 
new nest site.

Best wishes

Peter Edwards
[log in to unmask]
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/ 

*************************************************************************************
* BEE-L is hosted at the State University of New York at Albany.                    *
* Help with data collection regarding Colony Collapse Disorder at www.beesurvey.com *
*************************************************************************************