Posts Tagged: blanket flower It's a bug-eat-bug world out there.
Today we watched a syrphid fly, aka "hover fly" and "flower
fly," circling a blanket flower (Gaillardia) and then touching
down to sip a little nectar. Syrphids are called "hover flies"
for good reason. They "hover" over a blossom, helicoperlike.
They're often mistaken for bees but to the trained eye, they
really look nothing alike. Folks confuse them because both bees
and syrphids are floral visitors and both are pollinators. If
it's a floral visitor, it must be a bee, right? Wrong. Anyway,
this syrphid touched down on the blossom to sip nectar, its
wings glinting in the early morning sun. Finally, it spotted the
danger, a jumping spider lurking on the other side. The crafty
predator lunged. Missed! When we returned a few minutes later,
however, we saw the jumping spider beneath the petals, feasting
on the syrphid. Quickness is an attribute--whether you're a
jumping spider or a syrphid. If you want to learn more about
flower flies, read entomol