Flying Narwhal

The narwhal's fearsome spiky horn is actually a modified tooth known as a helical tusk. The frightening frontal spike of a bee fly is its harmless proboscis.

It must have been at least seventeen degrees today as these bee mimics don't take to the wing below that. I was chasing butterflies when I decided to go and check out the only clump of wild primroses on our property and found this bee fly feeding on nectar and pollen. I love photographing them, they hover like humming birds and rest some of their dangly legs on the bloom they are supping from.

They have a sinister side. The females flick their eggs into solitary bee tunnels and wasp and beetle nests where their larvae are parasitic.

I'm looking forward to trying to capture a bee fly in flight.