>>On several occasions...foraging at 38 Degrees.  On a couple of occasions... on my deck at 28 degrees.  ...any idea what ...race ...?

Bees often feel compelled to display behavior that's not in line with their reputation when they are under pressure.  I've seen Italians forage when the NWCs stayed put.  Checking the Italian hives revealed low stores...  They felt compelled to forage.

This spring I noticed the Italians raising brood 1 week ahead of the Carniolan hive...  I don't have pure-bred Italians or Carniolans, so there can be reversals of displayed characteristics.  It has been an unusually warm winter possibly influencing bees' behavior (Carniolans are reputed to brood only on nectar flows).

I have also seen bees flying in temps in the 30's on very sunny days.  A shaded thermometer may show a temp in the 30's but the sun creates much warmer spots, especially in sheltered locations, where (I believe) bees take advantage of thermal chimneys.  This is risky and typically avoided by the better bees since, if a bee runs into a shaded spot or cold wind picks up, she'll drop to the ground and may not be able to warm up enough to fly back to the hive.

I have collected hypothermic bees from the ground and warmed them indooors.  Depending on how long they had been cold, a lot of them came back to life and I'd returned to a hive.

Flying in very cold weather is risky and undesirable since very, very few plants produce nectar in the cold.  Leaving open feeders out, induces this risky flying.  In the late winter, brood rearing is underway and, if the stores are low, the bees will attempt to forage in cold weather sometimes.  A lot of adult bees can perish.

Waldemar

PS.  My best/strongest hives with good stores have always stayed put -aside from brief cleansing flights in front of the hive - until good weather.

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