I guess we’ve all got favourite things, it’s not very hard to think of a favourite bird or animal, but insects…. Well, I have a favourite insect, and it’s the hover fly, attractive and innoffensive, hovering over flowers with a high pitched buzz that I can hardly hear nowadays, then landing briefly to take a mouthful of food. Just outside the door a Pimelea or Rice Flower is in flower at the moment, and the other day a hover fly was giving it a lot of attention. I noticed that when it landed it stayed put for much longer than usual, so I took the opportunity to take a few photos. When I put them up on the monitor I could see it was feeding on pollen, I wonder if it was a female eating nutritious food prior to laying her eggs, must try to find out. They are a beneficial insect, pollinating flowers, and the larvae eat aphids and the like.
Hi Duncan
I tried to photograph the same species in my garden at the weekend and gave up, and now I see your wonderful results. Very annoying.
Boobook
Boobook, this was a very co-operative individual, I must say I’ve never seen another one sit still for as long. Keep at it, you’ll strike it lucky sooner or later.