Well, maybe ‘attacked’ is a bit too strong but this little bee fly with its long proboscis kept flying right up toward me and then hovered like a hummingbird right in front of me. At less than 1/2″ in size this little Bee Fly was still aggressively defending his spot on the trail and kept buzzing at me and then darting away. Once I realized that I was in no danger, I settled in to try and take a picture or two in rather dim forest light.
Bee fly photo taken hand held with a Nikon D200 and a 105VR Micro lens. A parasite of solitary bees, the bee fly follows the female solitary bee around and waits for it to lay an egg in a hole in the ground. The bee fly then lays its eggs in the tunnel entrance and bee fly larvae eat the emerging bee larvae. The adult bee fly drinks nectar.
In addition to the maples in this hardwood forest, the bark of the white birch provided a nice contract with its white, peeling bark.
The flowers weren’t the only things coming out from their winter dormancy. The caterpillars of the Forest Tent Caterpillar were equally active as they moved in and out through the small opening of their silken tent.
And at the end of the day, I returned home to where my small clump of Bloodroot had decided to open up en mass.
