When I first started taking nature photos more than ten years ago, I probably would have assumed that this yellow and black insect was a bee. With the benefit of accumulate experience, I can identify it as some kind of Hover Fly. Hover flies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, are quite common—according to Wikipedia there are about 6000 species of hover flies worldwide, so I don’t feel bad that I cannot identify the species of this one.
I spotted the hover fly during a recent visit to Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge as it was feeding on a Black-eyed Susan flower (Rudbeckia hirta). Both the insect and the flower are made up of varying shades of yellow and brown and they seem to complement each other pretty well. I also like the way that the lines on the petals of the flower mirror the marking on the insect’s body.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 