The Lovely Syrphid Hoverfly!

This picture makes me want to kiss my camera!!! Before I got my Canon 5D Mark II with this most awesome 100mm lens, I had Canon's superzoom SX30 camera. It's a fabulous, powerful camera, with awesome macro capabilities, but in order to get macros, you must get close to your subject. Imagine my frustration. No, don't...you'll throw yourself out the window, and we don't want that! :D Let's just say it was a trial. I got very good at moving extremely slowly, doing what I call the "creep and click" method of sneaking up on my subject. Trouble was that just when I got reasonably close, my subject would look at me, laugh loudly, and make a raspberry before zooming off into the wild blue yonder. *CRY* Armed with my new camera and prime macro lens, I not only get the luxury of being much further away, the size of my pictures is much larger (from 14k with the SX30 up to 21k megapixels with the Mark II ). This translates to Seventh Heaven for Janet and her quest for cool critters! I would have NEVER EVER EVER gotten this picture with my old camera, but with my new one...just take a look!!! *Janet does the Gopher Dance from Caddyshack*

When I first looked at this insect on my computer, I thought it must be some sort of short dragonfly because of that long abdomen. But it's actually a type of Hoverfly! They are very common and can be found in Britain, Europe, North Africa, Asia and North America. As can be seen here, these flies enjoy feasting on pollen from flowers and grasses.

If you'd like to know more about Syphrid Hoverflies, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Syphrid Hoverflies