Holiday picnic at the beach?

  

A nice Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) at Point Reyes this afternoon (2 September 2024).

The sandpiper was feeding along the wrack line, especially near clumps of eelgrass (Zostera marina):

 

 

Often it was possible to see prey trying to escape its grasp.  Below, look for the fly and a probable amphipod (beach hopper) in the air just to the left of the sandpiper:

 

 

 

Calligraphy in the prairie

  

Eric spotted these tiny flies hovering among the grasses in a coastal prairie site up in Mendocino County on 11 September 2022.  Although they were quite small, when they landed it was easy to appreciate the beautiful colors and patterning on their abdomens and the light reflections in their wings.

We don't have experience with this group of flies, but our best guess right now is that they are Margined Calligraphers (Toxomerus marginatus). 

A couple more views:

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Eric for his excellent fly-spotting!  

 

What a fly!

  

Wow, what a fly!  I had to do some work in the dunes today.  As I was walking back I noticed this fly landing on the sand.  Even from a distance the colors looked interesting, so I bent down for a closer look.  Such beautiful metallic purple and copper coloration!  [You can click on the image for a larger version.]

I think this is a type of bee fly (Bombyliidae), but I'm not sure which species.  If you have any bee fly contacts that could help with an identification, let me know. 

Reaching for the...

...flies!

 

 

 

Near the Bodega Bay Post Office this afternoon (7 September 2021), I noticed several Red-necked Phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus) feeding near the shoreline in Bodega Harbor.  It must be a good spot for catching flies.  I'm guessing this site is in a bit of a lee and that the flies are concentrated here and perhaps easier to catch.  [Dragonflies do this, too — feed on flying insects in the lee of trees and shrubs.]

I have some more questions and perhaps some video of this fly-catching behavior, but I'm running out of time tonight, so here are a couple of photos for now.  

 

Above, I'm guessing you'll be able to spot the fly just ahead of the phalarope's bill.  And below, note the fly that's just been caught and is visible at the tip of the phalarope's bill.  [You can click on the images for larger versions.]

 

Red-eyed

  

We were leaving for work this morning when Eric spotted this interesting fly on the door to our house.

It looks like it's probably a type of hover fly (Syrphidae), but I'm not sure which species.

The large red eyes were striking!

 

 

 Here's another view in case someone can help with an identification:

 

 

 

P.S.  Can you hear the excuse now?  "Really...I was late to work today because of a fly."  Do you think that would fly?  ;) 

The lily and the fly

 

 

Eric and I came across a nice patch of Death Camas or Fremont's Star Lily (Toxicoscordion fremontii, formerly Zigadenus fremontii) recently.  Eric wondered what might pollinate them.  I wasn't sure, but I had seen flies pollinating other lilies, so we started to look around.  

As we kneeled down for a closer view, we started noticing some small flies nestled among the petals of the lilies, and sometimes they'd rest out towards the tips:

 

  

With a zoomed in view, you could really see the pollen grains on the flies, especially on the thorax and the eyes:

 

 

Eric did a little research and narrowed down the identification to a group of hoverflies, perhaps in the genus Cheilosia.  These flies are sometimes referred to as "blacklets."  [If anyone knows more about these flies and can confirm the i.d., we'd appreciate any assistance.]

Here's another view, this time from the side.  It's fun to think about what a nice spot these flies have for feeding and resting as well as the assistance they provide to the lilies!

 

What?

Recently I was trying to photograph some very small bees.  When I'm doing this, I'm often following the blur of a bee in flight.  I can't see any detail; I just try to follow the bee until it lands and then focus the lens.

This time I was surprised.  First, because this one turned out to be a fly, not a bee.  And second, because the fly started to oviposit (lay eggs) in a Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) leaf!  What?

 

In the photo above, the fly has curled her abdomen tip down into the leaf.  This is a classic egg-laying position for many insects.

Here's what she looked like with her abdomen extended:

 

I don't think I've noticed a fly ovipositing in a leaf before, but then again, I don't think I've ever tried to find one doing it, either.

 

One more sand scene

During a walk not too long ago, a small insect caught my eye.  It was puzzling at first because I could see movement when it took off, but when I tried to spot the insect that had flown (once it landed), it was really hard to find.  I started to move slowly and really concentrate, and there it was.  Here's a somewhat zoomed in view:

 

Such amazing camouflage against the sand!  This fly looked mostly white when flying, but on the sand you could see strong black and white coloration (the wing veins are especially striking):

 

 

We found a few individuals, and I started to notice that some looked different.  One form had larger eyes that touched in the middle (see first photo in this post) along with a relatively short abdomen (the abdomen didn't really extend beyond the wings).  The other form had smaller eyes with a gap in the middle (see previous and next photo) along with a longer, tapered abdomen (obviously extending beyond the wings):

 

Later, after determining that these are likely stiletto flies (perhaps Acrosathe vanduzeei?), I also learned that the larger-eyed individuals are males and the individuals with longer abdomens are females.

Eric was very patient and crept up on one of the flies.  Check out this close-up!  [The fly is only ~1 cm (0.4 inches) long.]

 

 

This was my first experience with stiletto flies.  At first I thought they might have been robber flies, but that didn't seem quite right.  I'll have to do some research to learn more about this group, but I wanted to introduce you to this intriguing fly!

Following footsteps

Earlier in March, I was watching some insects visit the flowers of Footsteps-of-spring (Sanicula arctopoides).  Check out this fly.  Hard to believe how thin its "neck" is:

 

I'm not sure if this next insect (below) is a wasp or a bee — maybe a wasp?  Let me know if you can help with an identification:

 

And here's one of the flower:

 

On the nature of pappus

I need to correct a mistake in last night's post.  I called the Coyote Brush flowers male, but I've realized now that the flowers in last night's photo are female (and I've corrected that post).

I'm not a botanist, so I hope you will forgive my mistake...and perhaps you can learn with me.  Here's what happened.  I had remembered that in Coyote Brush, male and female flowers occur on separate plants.  But when I took the picture that I showed last night, I couldn't remember how to tell the different types of flowers apart.  So I looked around for clues and found this:

 

I said, "Okay, I can see that the shorter yellowish flowers are producing pappus."  Pappus is the white fluffy material that (often) carries seeds.  [When you blow seeds off a dandelion, you're blowing on the pappus (with a seed at the bottom) which then floats away.]  

Until now, I have associated pappus with seeds, which are produced by female flowers, so I thought these shorter yellowish flowers were female.  And I reasoned that therefore the longer whitish flowers (in last night's photo) were male.

Then today I noticed a lot of insect activity around some Coyote Brush plants — e.g., here's a nice fly (and an ant), feeding on white flowers.

 

When I looked closely, I realized that there was pappus associated with the white flowers (see below for an example):

 

So now I realized I had a problem.  A few days ago I had noticed pappus on yellow flowers, and today I observed pappus on white flowers.  So...which flowers are male and which are female?

I had to do some more research, and discovered that the white flowers are female and the yellow flowers are male.  They *both* produce pappus, but note that the pappus is longer in the females and shorter in the males.

I hadn't realized that some male flowers produce pappus, but now I know, and you do, too! 

Since pappus is associated with seeds and can play a role in seed dispersal, it raises the question of why male flowers also produce pappus?  I don't know the answer, but let me know if you've heard of an explanation (or can think of one!).

Here are two more pictures: a closeup of male Coyote Brush flowers, and a handsome striped fly on a male flower:

 

 

Solar-powered

Air temperatures in Bodega Bay reached ~56°F (~13°C) this afternoon.  After a week of rain, it seemed like a lot of insects were taking advantage of the sun today:

 

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

 

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

 

Variegated Meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum)

 

Unidentified fly (Let me know if you recognize it!)

ADDENDUM (12 February 2017): One of the suggestions I received about the fly in this post was that it could be a hover fly.  I did a quick image search, and noticed a similar-looking hover fly here.  I don't think it's the same species (based on the abdominal patterning), but it's very close, and I think it's likely the fly in the picture above is in the same family (Syrphidae).

Then I skimmed some information about syrphid flies, and learned that sometimes they eat aphids.  In the field I had noticed that these flies were spending a lot of time around the tips of the Monterey Cypress.  I wondered about what they were doing there (i.e., what was attracting them to those sites).  Well, I went back and reviewed my photos and it looks like there might be tiny aphids on the cypress tips!  Check it out — and note the arrow pointing to one of the possible aphids:

 

Thick-headed

So there I was, looking at this insect, thinking it might be an interesting wasp.

 

I had seen the narrowed abdomen or thread-waisted appearance (typical of wasps), but upon closer inspection, I noticed the single pair of wings and the "beaters" or vestigial wings immediately behind the first pair of wings.  These rudimentary structures that no longer function as wings look like small yellow teardrops on either side of the thorax.  In the photo above, look for them just in front of the last pair of legs.  The "beaters" told me that this was a fly!

I started circling around to get a closer look.  The head and eyes were very large, and check out the very long forked antennae in the next image.  And what is that skinny black thing sticking up below the antennae?

 

Below is another view from the side.  Now you can see the pale yellow face.  And that skinny black thing appears to be a long narrow proboscis.

 

The fly took off, but landed again and I took one more picture before it disappeared.

 

I know hardly anything about flies, but I searched around on the Internet for some clues about the identity of this intriguing species.

I think it's a type of conopid fly.  These flies are sometimes known as thick-headed flies.  There's a good chance it's in the genus Physocephala.  In 1957, Camras and Hurd wrote The Conopid Flies of California.  Here's an illustration from that publication of a species similar to the one in my photographs:

 

The basic life history of conopid flies goes something like this — they're internal parasites of bees and wasps.  This means that they lay eggs inside the abdomens of adult bees or wasps.  For example, the female fly pounces on the bee while in flight, inserts her ovipositor between the abdominal segments of the bee and deposits an egg.  The fly larva develops inside the bee's abdomen.  The bee is fine and continues to be active during the early stages of the fly's larval development.  However, just before the fly larva is ready to pupate, the host bee dies, and then the adult fly emerges from the bee's abdomen.

Whew!  I'm still curious about why they mimic wasps.  Is it to avoid predators (that aren't as interested in eating wasps)?  Or is it something completely different — does this body design work better for high speed aerial maneuvers?  What do you think?

P.S.  These photos were taken at the north end of Bodega Harbor near Whaleship Road.