Flies

Male Syrphid Fly Thanks to Phil Huntley-Franck for identification information!

Robber Fly on Strawberry Blossom (not 100% positive) Thanks to Phil Huntley-Franck for identification information!

Found this big fat fly buzzing around on our upper deck and managed to get this picture! :D

This image was taken on the MeetUp Photography Hike to Mt. Ashland on August 8, 2011.

Winner of FlickrDuel contest: +10 Wins: Macro This image was taken during the Rogue Valley Photography hike to Mt. Ashland on August 7, 2011.

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Would you just look at this cutie pie?!! This little fly is just 1/4" in diameter...the tiny blossoms of the Yarrow flower it's on are nearly larger than the fly!! I like how he's looking up at me with an indignant expression on his face, saying in a itty bitty voice, "Hey you! Buzz off! You're bugging me!" :D :D :D I was going to try to find information about this fly, but there's nothing that I could find which was interesting...I couldn't even find a nice "common" name for it, so I gave it my very own name! :)

[best appreciated at full size against black] While creeping around the meadow looking for new flowers, I noticed this fly hanging out on a grass stem. Amazingly, this is a handheld macro which actually turned out crisp, I think because it was a very bright day, YAY!! By the way, my husband thinks this fly is gross but he's so wrong! How can he speak so poorly of my little friend?!! :D This image was taken in March, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] We are so incredibly fortunate to live on 26 acres in the beautiful countryside of southern Oregon. It's a dream come true for me, something I've wanted all my life. However, when you put a macro lens on a camera, suddenly it seems like 10 sqiare feet is as large as an acre...that means that when I'm nosing around our property for pictures, our 26 acres is more like 113 acres!! Well, it certainly seems like it, there's just no end to the possibilities!! Now that it's warm, there are insects EVERYWHERE. I'm hoping to get lots of great pictures in the coming months, and I took this one just the other day! Here we have a flower fly, who is standing on a buttercup petal. He just got finished getting a meal of nectar and still has a mouth full! SWALLOW, you silly fly!! :D By the way, while writing up this information, it occurred to me that I've never actually SEEN buttercup nectar before. So...I looked it up! I found a very fascinating page by a gentleman named Brian Johnston, who took many extreme close-ups of three different buttercup flowers and gives a wonderful, easy-to-understand lesson about its anatomy, all the way to the microscopic level! Have you ever seen pollen grains at a microscopic level? You will really enjoy the pictures and learning more about these lovely little flowers! A Close-up View of Three Buttercups This image was taken in April, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Yesterday's first image was Miner's Lettuce , and you'll notice a familiar flower here. But what's that on one of the flower petals?! Keep in mind, each petal is just about the size of a grain of rice! I would like you all to say hello to this very tiny fly, who is so small that it is dwarfed by the size of the flower petal it sits on! It's no larger than 1/16" in size!!!! Can you believe this?! When I was taking pictures of Miner's Lettuce, I noticed a little black speck on one of the blossoms. Slowly leaning a bit closer, I could barely tell that it was a fly. To my great joy, it sat calmly while I took several pictures, and I was hoping against hope that one of the pictures would turn out. I was elated when I took a look on my computer, and found this little friend perfectly crisp and ready to be a little star! I can't tell you how incredibly happy I am to have my macro lens, because it's allowing me to take pictures I never dreamed were possible!! HOORAY!!! :D :D :D I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in April, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] There's an old, overgrown dirt road which parallels the gravel road up to our house, and this road travels next to the seasonal creek. It's shady and pretty here, and walking along one day I found a buttercup with a little friend atop it, feasting on the pollen! I got lots of cute pictures as it walked around and in the end, it turned away and flew off to another sunny destination! I hope you enjoy this collage! This image was taken in April, 2012.

This hoverfly was so intent on wolfing down pollen that it didn't mind me getting as close as I wanted to. Nice for practice, I got over a dozen shots and a handful that turned out nicely. This one is my favorite because of the shallow depth of field. Hoverflies are also known as "Flower Flies" or "Syrphid flies" and there are over 6,000 species found world-wide except Antarctica. They often have coloring which mimic bees and wasps, but they are harmless. They are a beneficial insect and eat garden pests such as aphids and leafhoppers. Hoverflies get their name from their ability to hover in place, and often do so when visiting flowers for the pollen and nectar they enjoy. If you would like to know more about these pretty flies, Wiki has a very nice page here: Wiki: Hoverfly

In the center of the tiny stream, I found a beautiful moss-covered rock, and on it, I found some beautiful leaves with burgandy edging. As I attempted to take pictures, I saw something tiny land on a leaf, and was just able to focus on this nearly microscopic fly, less than 1/16" in size! To understand how small this little guy is, the leaf it's on is only about 1/3" in diameter!!!! Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Wikipedia: Jonathan Swift

Today Steve and I went on a 25 mile bike ride that Steve organized and led for the local bike club! We had such fun, but we were both dead-beat when we finally got home! However, I was excited to go out on this gorgeous day to take my pictures, and I have 4 to share! Did you know that flies commonly eat nectar and pollen? In fact, there are a whole group of flies called "Flower Flies!" This one was slurping up nectar from a Saxifrage flower and made a wonderful subject! I hope you're not too grossed out--I think flies are interesting and cool looking, but I also know they are icky to many people, and that's totally understandable! Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra[ (29 September 1547– 22 April 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered to be the first modern European novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). He was dubbed El Príncipe de los Ingenios ("The Prince of Wits") Wkipedia: Miguel de Cervantes

Today I went out on our back deck where we have a pink rose bush growing next to and through our deck! It rained last night and I meant to get droplet pictures but when I went out there, I was met by first a slow-moving honey bee and then a bumble bee! Can you believe it? Two flying bee pictures in one day!! Hooray! Mary Kay Ash (May 12, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. Wikipedia: Mary Kay Ash

These guys sure have the right name, as I see them on the outside walls of our house starting in May and into the months of summer. I was dragging myself into the house when I saw this beauty and before I could stop myself, click-click-click, and here's my evidence! :D I cropped this picture which contained its whole tail, but Steve thought that this closer view was better than seeing the whole tail. Do yo mind that its tail is cut off?