Macro Fly
In August I found these flies frequenting a small patch of flowers in the upper intertidal zone on the pebble beach in Trafalgar Park. It was the same time that I photographed some skippers, the subject of an earlier post.
I am pretty sure that these are flies disguised to look like bees, but I did not try to catch one for a closer look. I might have been wrong. And besides, there were bees as well.
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Canon 5Dii, Canon 100mm/f2.8 macro lens, ISO100, f4, 1/500th second.
burnt embers 
Beautiful work, Ehpem! Here’s a great article that discusses the differences between bees and flies that are look-alikes: http://beespotter.mste.illinois.edu/topics/mimics/
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I didn’t know flies were attracted to flowers. On the other hand, we have a type of bee that looks suspiciously like this. Good macro work, btw.
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Hi Ken – Maybe the bee you have is a fly? They are very good at assuming the protection that comes with that colouring. One distinctive feature is that a fly has two wings (well it has two other tiny vestigial wings but you would be hard pressed to see them) and bees/wasps have four wings. The antennae are different too – bees have an “elbow” or bend in theirs, flies don’t.
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Beautiful shots, lovely colours and focus.
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Thanks Ben! The focus is always an issue with a macro. I find I have to shoot these kinds of shots handheld to track the insects as they move around. And that means nearly wide open apertures, or high ISO. Which is a very good reason for having an image stabilised macro. But, with some time and patience and a comfortable perch we can make do with some out of focus parts.
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Lovely photo =)
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Hi AnaLuciaSilva – thanks so much!
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