Bee Flies - Bombyliids

Eastern Washington

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Bee fly or bombyliid picture
Bee Fly

Progressive Bee Fly picture
Progressive Bee Fly

Picture of a Gray Bee Fly nectaring on snow buckwheat - Anastoechus barbatus
Gray Bee Fly nectaring on snow buckwheat

Bee flies or bombyliid flies zip around flowers and bask on the ground in the heat of summer. The adult flies nectar on summer-blooming flowers, and females seek out insect nest burrows to lay their eggs, such as solitary bees and wasps, beetles, robber flies, grasshoppers and other insects. A component of a healthy ecological web, bee fly larvae consume their hosts in their egg, larval and pupal growth stages.