In article 20030819125931.21194.00000195@mb-
m10.aol.com, says...
Latley I have been seeing these flying insects that look like bees but are
quite a bit fatter, and have black and white stripes instead of the usual
yellow. Anyhow, I was deadheading my butterfly bush and its covered with lots
of big fat bumble bees, and the above described insects are actually flying
arround the shrub and hunting them out. When they come across a bumble bee,
they fly into them and knock them completley off of the flower! I saw this
happen several times and it was not just some random thing. Anyone know what
the heck is going on? Im kind of curious.

Toad

It may be one of the Robber Flies. I can't find a pic as
you describe, but they do come in different shapes and
sizes.
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http://home.comcast.net/~larflu/owl1.jpg

Lar. (to e-mail, get rid of the BUGS!!