In truth, the tiger bee fly is harmless and highly beneficial. Remarkably, in spite of tiger bee fly's ferocious appearance, it is a member of a suite of native pollinators that inhabit our backyards. The tiger bee fly uses its fearsome beak to sip nectar from flowers.

Can bee fly hurt you?

Even though they have a long thin tongue (proboscis) that looks like it could hurt, bee-flies do not sting nor spread disease and are harmless to humans. The long proboscis is actually used for feeding on flower nectar.

Are bee-flies good or bad?

They are just as efficient pollinators of these flowers as are the bees and they are more frequent visitors so, all and all, they probably pollinate more flowers than these bees.