> Today I witnessed a behavior in my honey bees which I had never seen before.
> The weather at noon was sunny, approx 70 degrees.  The hive was in full sun.
> The bees were coming back to the hive heavy with pollen.
>
> The unusual behavior I observed involved bees departing to the field for
> more nectar/pollen.  As I was watching the hive, a departing bee would
> appear at the entrance, immediately flip over on her back, wiggle her legs
> fiercely for about one second, then flip back over on to her feet and take
> off for the field.  I estimate 10% of the departing bees performed this
> "flip", and continued to behave in this way for at least the 20 minutes I
> watched.
>
> Could this behavior be a form of communication?
 
I think that what the bee is trying to communicate is that the landing board is
wet.
The passage through the hive entrance seems to involve a certain amount
of twisting and turning. You hardly notice it, unless the surface is wet, a wing
touches
the board and the bee gets stuck for a bit.
 
Kevin D. Parsons