You will have often heard very popular ways among people of how to anticipate the rain, such as the bad smell that the sewers give off, your own bathroom (although that problem may be due to other circumstances), and also some like the one that we could comment now, which is that the flies tend to stick more and it is difficult to get rid of them. No, it is not that they feel alone and suddenly feel a fatal attraction towards us, all this has its explanation.
Many animals have developed an instinct for coming rain, especially those that the storms can compromise them enough. For it, we are going to review and explain wise knowledge that many farmers have learned due to the need to approach this meteorological phenomenon, about the different behaviors of certain animals:
Bees
In the face of rain and cold, they lose the ability to move. For this reason I put them in the first place. A hive, where inside the environment must always be dry and an average temperature of approximately 36ºC, is for them the refuge par excellence from the rain.
Something important to say about bees, like many insects in their greatest activity (yes, you got it right, how flies!). In the case of bees it is clear, rush to return to the honeycomb, the ants return to the anthill etc. All this bustle does not go unnoticed by some predators.
Insectivorous birds
There is no better time to see them fly more than usual than at some hour before the storms. If any reader has the opportunity to see it, notice the type of bird that flies. Normally quite at ground level, while they hunt insects who do not want to be drowned by water or who cannot fly higher. These birds, like the "flycatcher", usually disappear moments before the rain, since they also end up taking refuge.
Once you learn to use this impressive technique, because of how very visual it is and how logical it seems at the same time that few people have noticed, you can anticipate the rain without too much trouble. But not all insects hustle for the same reasons.
The flies
Although it may not seem like it, flies are heavy by themselves. In times of high humidity, each flap is much more difficult for them to sustain. For this reason, it is easy to confuse when "they are heavy" with "it is going to rain." Maybe it's just that we have a very high humidity index. When they come back "Heavy" from the rainIt is usually due to the low pressure that the air presents before the rain. In these circumstances, they flap less air than normal, and that is why it makes them fly low.
So the climax of its heaviness is the low air pressure, plus a humid air. They also recharge their hygroscopic wings, which makes them heavier than normal, even for themselves.
The Frogs
We have all heard frogs croaking many times, but what about the particular croaking they make before a storm? Then they make a very peculiar sound and different from the usual one, it is their way of expressing alertness. If, in addition, the croaking is loud, this similarly means the magnitude of the storm. To hear that loud croaking, stay tuned, because a stronger storm than usual may come.
Cows
If you are in the field, without an umbrella, with cows around and you see that they are all sitting down, first warning, it may rain. If you don't have an umbrella, keep being alert for the signs described above. But if you also see that they arrange themselves on one side of the field all togetherThen yes, the probability of rain increases a lot, keep your senses well alert in case you had not noticed anything else.
The goat forecast
Finally I wanted to make a mention of an animal species that we will not be able to find around here, but very curious to know. There is a town in America where a radio channel says that it can predict the rain and if it will fall a lot or a little depending on the goats that live there.
It is seen that if the goats are at the top of the mountain, there is no danger of rain. If they see that the goats have descended half a hill, it will rain, but not excessively. However, they say whenever it rains very hard, all the goats go down to the valley to prevent themselves.
The adaptation that many animals present to the rain is more than to marvel. It is something that perplexes us when faced with the impossibility of developing that instinct or ability. It invites us to reflect on whether we know as much about us as we think we control.