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a Bee-Fly at the side of the grass ride at Summerfields behind the ambulance station, there were three or four on the wing but only this one rested for long enough to capture.
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another bee-fly - Bombylius major -this time basking or sleeping in the sunshine
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Cradley, England, United Kingdom
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Briantspuddle, England, United Kingdom
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Ste.-Catherine, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
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Primorsko, Burgas, Bulgaria
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Primorsko, Burgas, Bulgaria
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a Bee-fly - Bombylius major - approaching the flower of the grape hyacinth Muscari
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Pencaitland, Scotland, United Kingdom
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Stony Cross, England, United Kingdom
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Augusta, Michigan, United States
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Ipswich, England, United Kingdom
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Attempting to catch the hovering behavior--they would hold fairly steady in little sunny patches, but the flight was erratic, like all flies! I believe this is the behavior of a male--hovering and looking out for females. Usually one will see several males scattered among patches in the same habitat, and occasionally they tussle.See
BugGuide account, and
another attempt to photograph this hovering behavior. Bee fly expert Dr. Neal Evenhuis, in comments to the BugGuide image linked above, says:
Male Bombylius hover over territories in which females fly into to feed on flowers or oviposit in bee holes. The males essentially ambush the females and mate with them. The females are not attracted to the males, so this is not a display for the female.PCCA20080426-1032A
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Brevik, Akershus Fylke, Norway
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Bombylius major. EOS 40D with MP-E65 lens.
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Primorsko, Burgas, Bulgaria
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Primorsko, Burgas, Bulgaria
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a Bee-fly - Bombylius major - approaching the flower of a grape-hyacinth Muscari
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a Bee-Fly in the garden
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
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Munich, Germany
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Primorsko, Burgas, Bulgaria
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
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Ammelshain, Saxony, Germany
