People call lots of insects “bees.” Some are, some aren’t, such as the hoverfly (Toxomerus marginata) in the image above. It’s also known as the Calligrapher Fly. It’s one of my favorite insects to find in the garden, and just one of the many syrphids that visit our nectar-filled flowers.
Calligrapher fly (Toxomerus marginatus)
We especially like looking at small insects like this one. This calligrapher fly is on a blue-eyed grass flower.
We spotted these on a spiderwort (Tradescantia), which seem to be one of their favorites (or I just have become accustomed to looking for them there). These same insects were fascinating when we looked at them close-up. Their little noses look just like the anthers of the flower.
Syrphid fly
There are lots of flies and they’re frequently found around flowers. It’s probably no accident that they look like bees or wasps. It gives them some protection from birds or other predators who don’t want to tangle with what appear to be stinging insects. (Flies can NOT sting.)
Flies have short, fast, down-turned antennae, whereas bees’ antennae are generally longer and more uniform in thickness. Another thing to notice is that flies have two wings and bees have four.
Flower flies are decent pollinators, especially for certain plants, and their larvae are predators of other insects, such as aphids. We certainly want to have to have these flies around!
Note the aphid being eyed by this syrphid fly larva.
By the way, no need to be impressed by my knowledge of insects. I would never have known what this was without sending an ID request to BugGuide.net!
Ornate snipe fly (Chrysopilus ornatus)
This image doesn’t show how beautiful this fly is. “Ornate” is a well-chosen name for this golden insect! In this case, I came across this pair mating.
March fly (Bibio albipennis)
You can see how people at first glance might think this is a bee.
There are many other bee-type insects in our yard, of course, and I’ll post some more as I manage to get photos of some of them.