Fly watching never caught on in Minnesota. There's no Hover Fly Society, no Syrphidae database, no distribution atlas. In the U.K., all these exist (see for instance Britain's Hoverflies: A Field Guide by Stuart Ball and Roger Morris).
In 1939, Horace S. Telford (1909 - 2004) published The Syrphidae of Minnesota. At the time he was a Ph. D. student at the University of Minnesota, in 1939. Recently, I was lucky enough to obtain a copy of this publication and it arrived in today's mail. According to the introduction, several thousand syrphid flies collected in Minnesota formed the basis of Telford's study. He provides county data and dates for 135 species from 52 genera.
What better way to honor the work of Horace S. Telford than to go fly watching. Meadow Sedgesitters were abundant at Hauberg Woods and at St Olaf Natural Lands. This species was known from 18 counties at the time of Telford's study with a flight period from May 20 to September 13. Three, possibly four, additional syrphid species were observed at St Olaf Natural Lands. These were the Margined Calligrapher (not included in Telford), the Narrow-headed Sun Fly (known from 12 counties with a flight period of May 14 - September 14), a Swamp Fly (Lejops sp.), and a different species of Sedgesitter (Platycheirus sp.).
Meadow Sedgesitter
Hauberg Woods City Park
Northfield, Minnesota
Dot-tailed Whiteface
Hauberg Woods City Park
Northfield, Minnesota
Eastern Forktail
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
Margined Calligrapher
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
Swamp Fly
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
Narrow-headed Sun Fly
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
Meadow Sedgesitter
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
Margined Calligrapher
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
Sedgesitter
St Olaf Natural Lands
Northfield, Minnesota
Comments
That sounds like a really fun and educational idea. I will have to find some material around these parts for another group and branch out more.
The diversity in this one family of flies is pretty amazing. Plus many are remarkably showy, lots of brightly colored bee and wasp mimics. And they're often cooperative subjects to photograph.
I have been photographing a lot more flies this year and have also found them to be amenable and attractive subjects. Not so shy, more indifferent to my presence than most of the orthopterans or coleopterans I encounter.
I didn't really appreciate the diversity and beauty of flies until I started trying to identify them with iNatualist last year. They are a taxonomic group that deserves more admiration.
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