Date Added
June 7, 2024
08:48 AM PDT
What
Gray Fox
(Urocyon cinereoargenteus)
Date Added
December 5, 2023
02:46 PM PST
Date Added
September 24, 2023
09:15 AM PDT
Date Added
July 31, 2023
11:49 AM PDT
Date Added
August 9, 2023
04:09 PM PDT
Date Added
August 12, 2019
01:09 PM PDT
Description
One of the coolest flies I've come across.
Date Added
July 1, 2023
07:29 PM EDT
Date Added
August 13, 2020
02:03 PM UTC
Date Added
December 25, 2021
02:46 PM MST
Date Added
May 16, 2020
04:44 PM PDT
Date Added
April 28, 2020
01:14 PM PDT
Date Added
May 4, 2020
08:16 PM PDT
Date Added
March 28, 2017
06:24 PM PDT
Date Added
April 28, 2019
09:06 PM PDT
Date Added
March 24, 2021
07:38 PM PDT
Date Added
July 23, 2021
09:09 PM PDT
Date Added
April 16, 2021
05:08 PM PDT
Date Added
June 5, 2019
09:10 PM PDT
Date Added
October 17, 2019
07:17 AM PDT
Date Added
March 23, 2015
10:35 PM PDT
Description
Many dance flies present prey as nuptial gifts as a part of their mating rituals, but as Powell and Hogue write in California Insects, "The strangest habits are exhibited by a few species in which males secrete material from the digestive tract which is formed into a frothy, white ball or "balloon". This balloon either entraps a small prey or is substituted for prey in the courtship gift-giving sequence" (p. 161). This balloon clearly has prey within, perhaps some kind of hemipteran.
Ron and I were pretty flabbergasted as we watched these two engage in mid-air copulation, their aerial control so perfect that I was able to get this picture even though each fly couldn't have been more than 7 mm long.
Jack Owicki has this great BG photo that spawned an even greater discussion: http://bugguide.net/node/view/267952/bgimage.
I suspect this is Empis and not another genus in Empidinae due to the balloon-forming behavior and the long proboscis, but I'd love correction! Habitat was very close to a running creek, vegetation was riparian, some willow, but mostly oaks and maples.
Date Added
September 5, 2018
09:10 AM PDT
Date Added
May 29, 2017
06:55 PM PDT
Date Added
May 29, 2017
09:41 PM PDT
Date Added
January 17, 2021
08:03 AM PST
Date Added
February 8, 2021
10:04 PM PST
Date Added
February 25, 2021
06:26 PM PST
Date Added
February 26, 2021
06:12 PM PST
Date Added
March 30, 2021
06:45 PM PDT
Date Added
April 10, 2021
09:23 PM PDT
Date Added
April 10, 2021
09:37 PM PDT
Date Added
April 10, 2021
10:09 PM PDT
Date Added
April 15, 2021
08:28 PM PDT
Date Added
April 16, 2021
05:31 PM PDT
Date Added
April 16, 2021
05:54 PM PDT
Date Added
May 1, 2021
10:30 PM PDT
Description
Beautiful, frosted bees, quite a few of this kind on yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum)
Date Added
May 1, 2021
10:39 PM PDT
Description
On jeweled onion (Allium serra)
Date Added
May 7, 2021
09:38 PM PDT
Date Added
May 19, 2021
02:25 PM PDT
Date Added
May 25, 2021
08:30 PM PDT
Date Added
May 25, 2021
08:43 PM PDT
Date Added
May 28, 2021
08:20 AM PDT
Date Added
May 28, 2021
08:20 AM PDT
Date Added
May 29, 2021
03:37 PM PDT
Date Added
May 31, 2021
11:15 PM EDT
Description
On great Valley Gum Plant
Date Added
June 4, 2021
07:14 PM PDT
Date Added
June 6, 2021
09:18 PM PDT
Date Added
June 7, 2021
07:39 AM PDT
Date Added
June 17, 2021
01:25 PM PDT
Date Added
June 6, 2021
09:33 PM PDT
Date Added
June 6, 2021
09:33 PM PDT
Date Added
June 17, 2021
01:25 PM PDT
Date Added
January 12, 2022
08:28 PM PST
Date Added
June 4, 2020
08:47 PM PDT
Description
Mt Diablo State Park - Summit Trail