What are these? Not sweat bees...

Discussion in 'Wildlife in the Garden' started by carolyn, Sep 4, 2017.

  1. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

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    These have always been known to me as sweat bees but I googled them to see what they are good for but something else entirely is consider a sweat bee. IMG_20170904_172034.jpg
    Fwiw....they are everywhere this year. As I sit on my swing waiting on supper to get done I have them landing on me left and right.
     
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  3. toni

    toni Mistress of Garden Junque Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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    There are Sweat Flies that look very similar to your photo.
     
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  4. DeepWoods

    DeepWoods In Flower

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  5. carolyn

    carolyn Strong Ash

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    thanks Toni. that pointed me in the right direction. these are beneficial called hover flies.
    thanks deepwoods, also. I just sprayed my cucumbers in the greenhouse as they were covered with aphids. too bad I couldn't have gotten these in there to do their magic.
     
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  6. mart

    mart Strong Ash

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    We called them "tickle bees " when I was a kid.
     
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  7. Cayuga Morning

    Cayuga Morning Strong Ash Plants Contributor

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    Hmmm...Thanks all. I think I have them hovering over the piles of coffee grounds I get from the coffee shop. They just seem to hover, seem harmless. I don't get the attraction to the coffee grounds though.
     
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  8. kate

    kate In Flower

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    I think we have some, I thought they were baby wasp and I moved very quickly away...:smt043:smt043
    K
     
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  9. Kildale

    Kildale Nature's Window

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    Here are 25 hover flies that I have taken, including the male and female. Perhaps yours is among them. Just click Hover Flies. You can click on the small pictures to see a bigger one.
     
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  10. Cayuga Morning

    Cayuga Morning Strong Ash Plants Contributor

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    @Kildale,
    Thank you!!! Who knew?? 25 varieties!? My own particular brand of hover fly only seems to appear shortly after I dump fresh coffee grounds on the pile. My husband contends they come with the coffee grounds, maybe they actually contribute to the unique flavor of coffee. Moving past that gross thought, I counter-contend that no, this is a rare case of spontaneous generation: damp used coffee grounds + outside compost pile = extremely rare spontaneous generation of LIFE!!!! Scientists said it couldn't be done, but we know differently!
     

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