{"id":7472,"date":"2013-04-17T21:44:22","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T04:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=7472"},"modified":"2013-04-18T03:15:06","modified_gmt":"2013-04-18T10:15:06","slug":"bombylius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=7472","title":{"rendered":"Bombylius"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The bombylius looks like something that might be created by a child&#8217;s toy maker: fuzzy, large eyes, spindly legs.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, it is real and is visiting everyone&#8217;s yard right now&#8212;albeit a rather small object to descry. Bombylius is a genus of flies that mimics bees, presumably as a defence against being eaten by birds. Whatever the reason, it is a striking little creature, that can be seen around here in the months of April and May, and then it is gone.<\/p>\n<p>There are a quite a few different species of bombylius in British Columbia and I don&#8217;t know which one appears in these pictures. Indeed, I don&#8217;t even know if the three pictures show the same species. Alas, there are not very many local fly experts to consult on this matter.<\/p>\n<p>A bombylius rests on some of last year&#8217;s dried grass. This momentary inactivity enables one to see the black and transparent wings, things that are usually in rapid motion. Its long proboscis,\u00a0used for collecting nectar from flowers, is apparent here. This one could very well be the species, <em>Bombylius major<\/em>.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7475\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/bombylius130417s.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On this occasion, the rapidly moving wings hold the fly in position as its proboscis penetrates the flower.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7473\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/bombylius130417cs.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The bombylius: a ball of fur hanging from flowers&#8212;what a delight.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7474\" onclick=\"return false\" onmousedown=\"return false\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/bombylius130417bs.jpg\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The bombylius looks like something that might be created by a child&#8217;s toy maker: fuzzy, large eyes, spindly legs. Yet, it is real and is visiting everyone&#8217;s yard right now&#8212;albeit a rather small object to descry. Bombylius is a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/?p=7472\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7472"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7484,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7472\/revisions\/7484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kootenay-lake.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}