Say 'Hi' to a Fly on a Friday

If you stand perfectly still and don't make any jerky movements, you can usually get a close-up image of a black syrphid fly, a Mexican cactus fly, Copestylum mexicanum. It's Friday Fly Day and this one was nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia. Mexican cactus fly on a Mexican sunflower? Yes! The female Mexican cactus fly lays its eggs in rotting or dying cactus tissue. To the untrained eye, syrphid flies--aka hover flies or flower flies--are often mistaken for honey...