More about honey bees flying at night (these are African bees, A. adansonii):

> The adansonii bee forages at extremely low light intensities if nectar or pollen are available and if the temperature is favorable. Baudin (11) used a torch to detect foraging before dawn in Ruanda, and Semple (103) observed foraging on the Transvaal boekenhout, Faurea saligna, by moonlight. P. Mountain (personal communication) saw bees returning to hives at about 3:30 AM when the moon was less than half full, and on a different occasion he observed nectar collection from queen of the night, Cereus jamacaru, by moonlight at about 10:30 PM.

> I have recorded diurnal peaks of foraging activity prior to 5:00 AM at first light in Natal (unpublished data). In spite of their ability to navigate at such low light intensities, adansonii foragers respond to changes in light intensity in a similar manner to European bees, as was demonstrated by the return of field bees en masse during a total eclipse of the sun (73). This behavior is advantageous in view of the violence of tropical and subtropical storms. On the other hand, it is a fairly common experience to witness adansonii flying in light rain.

source:
Fletcher, D. J. (1978). The African bee, Apis mellifera adansonii, in Africa. Annual Review of Entomology, 23(1), 151-171.

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