Greater Bee Fly

There were a number of Greater Bee Flies poking around in the dirt last spring, though this was the 1st time I photographed them at Willowwood Arboretum and Bamboo Brook [1]. Though they look a little like tiny bees [2], they actually parasitize the nests of ground-dwelling bees.

I'll usually see these flies in April/May and usually around loose dry soil. I suspect there are 2 reasons for that:

  1. Loose dry soil is probably the preferred habitat for the bee nests that they parasitize.
  2. They are relatively small flies, and if they were flying on non-open ground, I'm not sure I'd notice them at all.
May 8, 2023 at Bamboo Brook
Photo 282304937, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] My recollection is that I saw these guys basically on the Willowwood Arboretum and Bamboo Brook border. There is a deer fence separating the 2 places, and I saw several of these flies basically at the foot of the gate I went through to switch properties.

[2] They get the "bee" part of the Greater Bee Fly name due to their similarity to bees.


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