View Single Post
  #5  
Old May 29th, 2007, 02:10 PM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
Scott Seidman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,037
Default Strange beast sighting

Scott Seidman wrote in
. 1.4:

Trodding back to my car from a day on the water, I was passing through
a phlox patch, and saw what I thought was a large honeybee gathering
nectar. This might seem quite stupid, but I'm pretty sure it was not
a honeybee. It seemed to be about twice the size of a honeybee. The
wing beats were extremely fast, and it darted about more like what I
think of in a hummingbird-- very good hover, rapid darting pattern
with extremely sudden stops. There were some prominent yellow and
black stripes on the back, where an abdomen would want to be--maybe
two yellow and one black.

I didn't get a close enough look to categorically say there was no
beak, so I can't be sure, but I thought I saw a rather prominent
probiscus for nectar collection-- maybe some sort of odd moth??

I was with somebody else, and neither of us would identify this as a
bee. Any ideas? I'm in Western NY, if that helps.




Thanks all,

Mystery solved.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply