Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Looking At Insects. #11
Good morning everyone! I hope you are having a beautiful day. Well, today we have another flower fly for you, and this time we have both the male and female. We already saw the “Margined Calligrapher” in a previous post, this time we have the “Eastern Calligrapher”.
These are small flower flies, they average from about 1/4 inch to just under 1/3 inch (6.1 to 7.6mm). They are a common flower fly and can be found from June to September in our area.
Flower flies are abundant in different species, we have over 100 species in our area. They are also important pollinators for flowers of all kinds. Have a great day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2022 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
Aww you got special eyes to distinguish between male and female 😵🤔😄😄 they both look identical to my dumb eyes 👀🤪😅 have a wonderful Thursday ✨💐
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my, no, not the same at all. Notice the female is shorter and rounder, the male is long and thin. Plus the color is a bit different too.😁😁📷
LikeLike
Ahhh … Now i see… Perfect.! Didn’t I said you have special eyes 👀☺️ thanks for clarifying me 😍😍now I can differentiate too😇👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome Simon! Yep, I am always watching for those little differences in things so I things that others miss. Glad you can see it now!😁📷😺😊
LikeLike
You taught me that, thank YOU 😊☺️ soon I’ll be an insect expert 😄😁 with ur training ofcourse 😇
LikeLiked by 1 person
If you go by my training you could be in trouble with lots of bee stings and insect bites!😮😂😹
LikeLike
Ha h aha…. Expert suggestions 🤠 Taken Uncle Steve 🤗🤗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!😁😻
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are pretty flies as far as flies go!🤭😂😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true, they are really beautiful, and that pattern on them is amazing! And yet so tiny they are barely noticeable!😁📷
LikeLike
Big surprises in small packages.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, that’s for sure! And so many different kinds of these flower flies. Right now a whole new bunch has shown up, these are bigger ones though.
LikeLike
Oh, great! There will be more to see?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dozens! I haven’t even finished the first round of flower flies and now new ones are here! This is great, fantastic, beautiful! Wait until I get started with beetles! And spiders, even though they are not insects. And strange insects! And Dragonflies! Damselflies! Butterflies!😁📷
LikeLike
How about skipping right to the butterflies 🦋🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
And miss out on all those other interesting insects? Besides, I only have 4 other butterfly pics. We do not get a lot of butterflies up here, and this year there are even less than normal. Even a couple that are usually common have not shown up at all. I think maybe there is just too much rain this year for them.🤔📷
LikeLike
Yeah, you’re probably correct about that. Where do they go then? How do they come back next season 🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure exactly, but rain can be hard on young caterpillars, killing them, which means less butterflies. It can then take several years to get back to normal levels for some of them. Others that have more than one cycle per year recover faster.
LikeLike
Oh… OK, I had know idea how they work… I know a caterpillar spins a cocoon but if they don’t transform and imerge I didn’t realize that was it.🤔
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, that is it for them, done, finish, gone.
LikeLike
Hmmm… that’s to bad 👎 😕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, the only ones that seemed to be plentiful this year were the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail and the White Admiral.
LikeLike
Did you get pictures of those?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, I already showed the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail and the White Admiral is set to come out next.😁📷
LikeLike
Good! Should be an interesting post.😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think so!
LikeLike
I do to!😁
LikeLiked by 1 person