Posts Tagged: hover fly

Let It Rain

Ah, rain!

Ah, liquid precipitation!

Just when we were feeling drought-stressed, the weather forecast turned to rain.

I don't know if "the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain," but the rain in Northern California fell squarely on our bee friendly garden last weekend.

The honey bees weren't there, but the hover flies, aka syrphids and flower flies (family Syrphidae), were.

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. --Stanley Horowitz
 

 

Hover fly on sage

HOVER FLY--A hover fly, mimicking the coloring of a wasp, is nectaring sage. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sage advice

SAGE ADVICE--A syrphid fly, aka hover fly, sips water from purple sage. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Rain drops keep falling...

RAIN DROPS KEEP FALLING--A hover fly, about the size of a rain drop, lands on a leaf as rain lands on the insect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Hovering

Hover flies do know how to hover.

 

Like a helicopter with spinning blades, the hover fly lingers seemingly motionless in mid-air over a flower before zeroing down to feed on the nectar.

 

Sometimes they’re called flower flies. Sometimes syprhids. They’re from the family Syrphidae and mimic the black-and-yellow coloring of wasps or bees. The coloring protects them from predators. Leave me alone! Let me bee!

 

Last Sunday our rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora)  attracted its share of honey bees and hover flies.

 

In fact, so popular was the rock purslane (which we purchased from Ray and Maria Lopez of El Rancho Nursery and Landscaping, Vacaville), that I immediately wanted to fill the yard with the flower.

 

Instead I focused my macro lens, shot away, and then, for fun, altered the image in Photoshop with “poster edges.”

 

For a brief period, the hover fly became my poster child.

 

Hovering

HOVERING--A hover fly hovers over a rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Nectaring

NECTARING--A hover fly gathers nectar from a rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Painting?

A PAINTING? No, it's a hover fly Photoshopped. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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