{"id":54143,"date":"2018-09-15T05:31:37","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T11:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54143"},"modified":"2026-03-14T08:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T13:38:08","slug":"cutest-bee-flies-in-the-world-on-rabbitbrush-curlycup-gumweed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/15\/cutest-bee-flies-in-the-world-on-rabbitbrush-curlycup-gumweed\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutest Bee Flies in the World on Rabbitbrush & Curlycup Gumweed"},"content":{"rendered":"

I photographed some of the cutest, fuzzy Bee Flies in the world this week nectaring on Rabbitbrush and Curlycup Gumweed in the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert.<\/p>\n

\"BeeBee Fly nectaring on rabbitbrush – Possibly Bombyliinae – Anastoechus? – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I submitted a few photos of the Bee Flies to BugGuide.net<\/span><\/a> hoping for on ID on the Bee Flies I’ve photographed but so far all I know is that they belong to the subfamily Bombyliidae<\/em> and they may belong to the Genus Anastoechus.<\/em><\/p>\n

This Bee Fly was nectaring on rabbitbrush next to a road, I photographed it while photographing butterflies that were also nectaring on the rabbitbrush.<\/p>\n

\"BeeBee Fly butt – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Even their fuzzy little butts are cute. I kind of see a little hedgehog face in the Bee Fly’s behind in this photo.<\/p>\n

\"CurlycupCurlycup Gumweed with a Bee Fly – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bee Flies are small, have six long, thin legs, two pairs of wings, big eyes, short antennae and long, stiff proboscises. Bee Flies aren’t bees so they do not sting, the adults feed on pollen and nectar and they are important as pollinators.<\/p>\n

\"BeeBee Fly nectaring on Curlycup Gumweed – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/3200, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC,\u00a0 natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

As cute as these Bee Flies are I found out through my research on them that they hover over nests of ground nesting bees and deposit one egg into the burrow where the fly larva feeds on pollen and then the bee larvae itself. Go figure, a parasite as cute as a child’s stuffed animal!<\/p>\n

\"BeeBee Fly on Curlycup Gumweed – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that after I took these photos I wondered if it wasn’t time for me to start carrying my macro lens along when I go to the Stansbury Mountains<\/span><\/a> of the West Desert to try to get macro shots of these cute little Bee Flies. Perhaps I should!<\/p>\n

\"CurlycupCurlycup Gumweed next to a road – Nikon D810, f10, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR\u00a0 at 95mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Curlycup Gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa<\/em>) is a new wildflower to my site so I thought I should go into more detail about it. This is a native plant that favors dry areas such as roadsides, dry prairies, rangelands, and abandoned croplands. It will also grow in moist soils that lack other vegetation.<\/p>\n

It stores selenium and can be toxic to domestic cattle, sheep, and horses.\u00a0 The plants grow from one to three feet tall, the one in the photograph above was perhaps about 2 1\/2 feet tall. It is blooming like crazy in the West Desert this time of the year.<\/p>\n

Even when there aren’t birds nearby it seem there is always something to photograph when I look around.<\/p>\n

Nature is amazing…<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see my insect and spider galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I photographed some of the cutest, fuzzy Bee Flies in the world this week nectaring on Rabbitbrush and Curlycup Gumweed in the Stansbury Mountains of the West Desert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6799,1316,358,26,1314,5347],"tags":[6801,6803,6802,17238,6804,5774,6807,6805,6806,4302,6044,6808,4289,4307,5063],"class_list":["post-54143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bee-flies","category-stansbury-mountains-utah","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","category-wildflowers","tag-anastoechus","tag-bee-flies","tag-bee-fly","tag-bombyliidae","tag-curlycup-gumweed","tag-cute","tag-fuzzy","tag-grindelia-squarrosa","tag-gumweed","tag-native","tag-nectaring","tag-parasite","tag-rabbitbrush","tag-wildflowers","tag-yellow-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/bee-fly-on-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-7642.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-e5h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105518,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/03\/purple-loosestrife-curlycup-gumweed-and-chicory\/","url_meta":{"origin":54143,"position":0},"title":"Purple Loosestrife, Curlycup Gumweed and Chicory","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I took these photos of Purple Loosestrife, Curlycup Gumweed, and Chicory last year while driving around Farmington Bay WMA in September.","rel":"","context":"In "Chicory"","block_context":{"text":"Chicory","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/trees-shrubs-and-flowers\/wildflowers\/chicory\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stand of Purple Loosestrife, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/purple-loosestrife-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6625.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/purple-loosestrife-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6625.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/purple-loosestrife-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6625.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/purple-loosestrife-blooming-mia-mcpherson-6625.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53995,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/07\/western-branded-skipper-butterflies-and-rabbitbrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":54143,"position":1},"title":"Western Branded Skipper Butterflies And Rabbitbrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw plenty of Western Branded Skipper butterflies nectaring on blooming rabbitbrush in both the canyons I explored yesterday morning and I can't resist, nor do I want to, photographing wildflowers and butterflies.","rel":"","context":"In "Stansbury Mountains"","block_context":{"text":"Stansbury Mountains","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/stansbury-mountains-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Western Branded Skipper butterfly nectaring on Rabbitbrush, West Desert, Stansbury Mountains, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/western-branded-skipper-rabbirbrush-mia-mcpherson-9485.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/western-branded-skipper-rabbirbrush-mia-mcpherson-9485.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/western-branded-skipper-rabbirbrush-mia-mcpherson-9485.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/western-branded-skipper-rabbirbrush-mia-mcpherson-9485.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109093,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/12\/29\/wildflowers-i-photographed-in-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":54143,"position":2},"title":"Wildflowers I Photographed In 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I wanted to share some of the wildflowers I photographed in 2022. Birds are my primary subjects yet I simply can't resist focusing on wildflowers.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blooming Showy Milkweed with two ants, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/showy-milkweed-mountains-ant-mia-mcpherson-3745.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/showy-milkweed-mountains-ant-mia-mcpherson-3745.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/showy-milkweed-mountains-ant-mia-mcpherson-3745.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/showy-milkweed-mountains-ant-mia-mcpherson-3745.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60673,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/10\/05\/west-desert-wandering-birds-bees-and-blooms\/","url_meta":{"origin":54143,"position":3},"title":"West Desert Wandering – Birds, Bees, And Blooms","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I came home with very few photos I'm still glad I went wandering. I had great views, sunshine, birds to delight my eyes and ears and I soaked it all up like a thirsty sponge.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark-eyed Junco - Small in the frame, Stansbury Mountains, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-oregon-mia-mcpherson-4121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-oregon-mia-mcpherson-4121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-oregon-mia-mcpherson-4121.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/dark-eyed-junco-oregon-mia-mcpherson-4121.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116847,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/07\/black-footed-drone-fly-on-rabbitbrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":54143,"position":4},"title":"Black-footed Drone Fly On Rabbitbrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While out in the West Desert two days ago, I photographed this adult Black-footed Drone Fly, a member of the hoverfly family, on a rabbitbrush.","rel":"","context":"In "Black-footed Drone Flies"","block_context":{"text":"Black-footed Drone Flies","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/black-footed-drone-flies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Autumn Black-footed Drone Fly, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Black-footed-Drone-Fly-hoverfly-rabbitbrush-mia-mcperson-2288.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Black-footed-Drone-Fly-hoverfly-rabbitbrush-mia-mcperson-2288.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Black-footed-Drone-Fly-hoverfly-rabbitbrush-mia-mcperson-2288.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Black-footed-Drone-Fly-hoverfly-rabbitbrush-mia-mcperson-2288.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106518,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/25\/roadside-western-honey-bee-and-rubber-rabbitbrush\/","url_meta":{"origin":54143,"position":5},"title":"Roadside Western Honey Bee and Rubber Rabbitbrush","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I wanted to share this photo of a roadside Western Honey Bee in a Rubber Rabbitbrush this morning because when I look at it I think of fall.","rel":"","context":"In "Davis County"","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Honey Bee and Rubber Rabbitbrush, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/western-honey-bee-rubber-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-6932.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/western-honey-bee-rubber-rabbitbrush-mia-mcpherson-6932.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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