>From what I remember from the books, the actual cue is not the position of the sun but the angle of polarized light and its changes through time. Hence that short period at noon in equatorial regions where there is no direction to the polarization that can be used as an orientation cue and foraging stops or slows. If I remember the books correctly.
In the 'Mind of Bees' tome batted about some months ago, Dr. Chittka spends considerable ink describing several experiments which explore the known dimensions with which bees evaluate cues including visible and infrared light, magnetic charge, scent and tactile- even outlining how bees quickly process images in monochrome and then utilize visible/infrared vision for close inspection.
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