I’m still, still finding more syrphid flies that I haven’t seen before. It looks a lot like a bee mimic I saw last year, but not quite. It’s about the size of a honeybee, and as bright as a honeybee, and as fond of the same flowers — but I am not fooled. Honeybees don’t hold their wings like that.
Another way I can tell the difference is how they fly — or hover, that is. This one looked like a little torpedo hanging still in the air, even with the gusty winds we got today. Then it joined the bees on the goldenrod, folding its wings up nice and neat. But look at those fly eyes, and the yellow stripes under the wings. Another syrphid.
The bee-like one seems to be of a kind that live in stagnant water and small ponds as larvae. The little torpedo variety seems to be yet another aphid eater. There’s no end to syrphid around here!
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