Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

The word of the day is Bombyliidae. Say it three times fast!  It means bee fly, an interesting group of flies that have fuzzy bodies resembling bees and feed on nectar as adults. Bee fly larva are parasitic on solitary bee larva.

Odd bee or not bee

Yesterday I didn't even know bee flies existed. I still don't know if I have correctly identified the insect I watched yesterday at Oak Point Nature Preserve. Of course last week I'd never heard of picture wing flies. Until a couple months ago I didn't know about solitary bees.

The bees below look more bee-ish to my untrained eye. They were enjoying the ironweed in bloom on July twenty-first, very near where I stared at the odd bee/not bee/bee fly on Indian Blanket yesterday.

And now I'd better get busy.


© 2013 Nancy L. Ruder