White on black

It's not that long ago that I postsed an image of this bee fly; but it wasn't very good, and I really liked this daisy against the black background.

This is a banded bee fly (family Bombyliidae), and their behavior is very much like a hover fly.  But when you look closely, it's obvious it's a bee fly.  Trust me.

They are pretty little things, and very important pollinators.  They never come anywhere near a house, and feed exclusively on pollen for their protein requirements.  The larvae are largely parasites of other insects.

Their life cycle is very poorly understood, and according to my sources (Wikipedia, what else), there are at least 4,500 species world wide, and it's very likely that there are still thousands yet to be described.  The largest area of distribution is in the tropics and sub-tropics.

Very hot again today, but a cool change expected overnight.  the blessing is that there is very little wind.  I have dishes of water out everywhere for the birds.