![]() ![]() Here’s why.Īside from its deceptive appearance, the bee fly is best known for the strange behaviour of its females. But if you’re a bee larva, you should definitely keep your distance. Its permanently spiky appendage has led to another of its common names: the beewhal.įortunately for us, the bee fly isn’t able to sting, and it doesn’t spread disease, so is harmless to people. Unlike the hummingbird, however, the bee fly’s proboscis doesn’t curl away when not in use. Like the hummingbird, you’ll often spot the bee fly hovering around flowers, dipping its tongue into the flower while in flight. This dark black spear at the front of its head looks pretty fearsome, but is only used for drinking nectar, often from flowers with long calyces (tubes) such as primroses. ![]() The most distinctive feature of a bee fly is its long proboscis, or tongue, like those you see on butterflies and hummingbirds. They have no “pollen baskets” to store pollen, but can still get covered in the stuff, so can play an important role in pollination. The dotted bee fly looks similar but lacks the dark stripe and instead has dots across its wings.Īnother giveaway is that bee flies have long, skinny legs compared to bumblebees. The dark-edged bee fly also has a single large pair of patterned “delta wings”, which form a triangle at rest, and sport a distinctive dark stripe across the leading edge of each wing. While bees and bee-flies are of a similar size, the bee fly will have more prominent eyes. ![]() Take a second look at the next tiny, furry, flying creature you see. The dotted bee fly is a Warwickshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan species we have recently recorded in the Forest and the second most likely species you will see Bombylius major How to tell the difference between a bee and a bee fly majoris a member of the Bombyliidaefamily, which also includes the heath bee fly (B. Listen to a bee-fly in flight and you’ll also hear how it buzzes just like a bee to enhance the effect.įour species of Bombyliuslive here in the UK, but the dark-edged bee fly (AKA common or greater bee fly) is the most common and widespread, with records dispersed across the whole country.B. This phenomenon is known as Batesian mimicry. Imitating the warning systems of another species is a great way to scare off potential predators without needing to invest the energy into actually being harmful. With its thorax and abdomen covered in yellow-brown “fur”, and its bulky silhouette, it’s very often mistaken for a bumblebee.īee flies are one of many insects that rely on mimicry for protection. © 2017 Tune In to Nature.The fuzzy-looking creature below is a dark-edged bee fly (Bombylius major). Budney.īirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler. Available now.īird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. This new book is a photographic guide to these elusive bird groups. Support for BirdNote comes from Bloomsbury Wildlife, publisher of Antpittas and Gnateaters. Writers for BirdNote include Bob Sundstrom, Dennis Paulson, Gordon Orians, Ellen Blackstone, Rick Wright, GrrlScientist, Todd Peterson, and Bryan Pfeiffer. And during a courtship flight, they beat up to 200 times per second! The male’s entire head and throat shine in fiery pinkish-red, and blazing red feathers point like spikes down the sides of the breast. In flight, the Bee Hummingbird’s tiny wings beat 80 times a second. Her eggs are about the size of a coffee bean. The female builds a nest barely an inch across. That’s half the weight of our backyard hummers, like the Ruby-throated or Rufous. They weigh less than two grams - less than a dime. Bee Hummingbirds are often mistaken for bees. It measures a mere two and a quarter inches long. The Bee Hummingbird, which is found only in Cuba, is an absolute miniature, even among hummingbirds. There, hovering at the flowers - if you squint hard enough - you’ll find the Bee Hummingbird. Once on the island, your best bet for tracking down the tiny wonder is to visit a forest edge hung heavily with vines and bromeliads. Would you like to see the world’s smallest bird? Then you’ll need to travel to Cuba. ![]()
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