Recently, we used a 400W Mercury vapor lamp to set up our Moth screen in Madhya Pradesh, Central India and we noticed that a huge number of Bees started coming and resting on the white sheet and they remained there for hours. Almost 70 bees were found dead on the surface of the Lamp also. Initially I thought they are coming to get heat but the Max and Min temperature of this area as of now is 32-25 degree Celsius which is not very cold.
Honey bees are positively phototropic towards white and yellow lights. Bees come to light to get the heat at night.. Usually those bees are worker bees who have forgotten the way to their nest, or drones which are pushed out from the colony after their mating with queen or there's a bee colony nearby or around your experiment.
Thank you for your opinions Rajadurai and Bruno!
Neelandra, it happens regularly.
I have observed the same in Philippines. Apis dorsata (unlike other Apis) workers forage at night (as well as day) using a bright moon for navigation. Your very bright lamp attracts them (like moths). Their fuel becomes depleted and some die before daylight. You could try caging several, reviving them with sugar water, then release one at a time, and note and follow the direction it flies. Continue "bee lining" and you may locate their nest, but it may be > 1 km. Caution: they can sting.
Apis mellifera scuttellata American hybrids also forage at night with a full moon and can be distracted by artificial lights. We also have displaced bees come to lights as well.
I am pretty sure he means un-mated drones from the drone aggregation areas don't make it back to the hive and may be distracted by your lights. He may also mean un-mated drones that have been expelled from the hive during non-swarming seasons. This is usually winter for us, but could be any resource dirth period. Rajadurai, please correct me if I misinterpreted your statements.
@Richard Odemer, If a mature drone successfully mates with a queen, he will die soon after the mating flight. If he is unsuccessful in the mating flight, the drone will be ejected from his hive at the end of the active summer season and will eventually die of cold or starvation.
It would be a significant observation if any of the Apis dorsata bees attracted to light at night were drones. As I understand, drones (or queens) mate or fly only in full daylight. Mellifera (and I'd expect dorsata) drones who successfully mate die at the instant of mating.
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