Hi: As regards bees knowing that a storm is coming due to barometric pressure changes - as always, the answer is not that simple. We now have 21 hives (in gruops of 7 at 3 locations) fitted with counters that monitor every bee coming and going from each hive. Yes, bees do come home before the thunderstorm. No, it is not necessarily a drop in barometric pressure. We have an electronic weather station at each site. Barometric pressure does not always drop before a storm, yet the bees still come home. We suspect multiple triggers for this behavior - temperature drops, wind speed increase or calm before the storm, changes in light intensity, and maybe some things bees detect that we can't - such as the electrical charge in the air. Just as you and I pick up on more than one indicator of the approach of a storm, bees may do the same. Jerry Bromenshenk The University of Montana [log in to unmask] http://grizzly.umt.edu/biology/bees