by Wendy Feltham

In summer, the Olympic Peninsula is a colorful wonderland of wildflowers. Pollinators make this happen— insects including bees, butterflies, and flies. We have hundreds of fly species, some pollinating flowers high in the mountains, and others at sea level.

It’s true that some flies harm crops and bite mammals, but many flies are beneficial insects. Insects in the Syrphidae family, called hoverflies or flower flies, don’t bite people. They’re essential pollinators of agricultural crops and native wildflowers, and the larvae of some species eat aphids.

Flower flies are usually small, about a half-inch long. It’s enchanting to watch them hover like miniature helicopters over their target flower before zooming in for nectar and pollen. Some “mimic” stinging wasps and bees. They tend to prefer white and yellow flowers.

Local entomologist Richard Lewis told me, “Flies (Syrphids) are some of the most evolutionarily advanced of all the insects and play several important ecological roles including decomposers, pest control, pollination, and as a food source for other organisms. They reproduce rapidly, have exceptional vision, amazing agility in flight,
and are highly adaptable. These qualities not only make them important in the natural world but also inspire many scientific studies and technological advances.” You can see more at the iNaturalist project, “Flies of the US and Canada:”
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/flies-of-the-us-and-canada.