Bee fly, home

I could easily see how easy it would be to get hooked on a group of Diptera known as Hoverflies. These marvelous bee mimics are common, bright, extremely colorful, eye- and, to be sure, ear-catching—they make an audible high-pitched whine when they hover—and, because of the evolution of their mimicry, eternally fascinating. In England, they have a small cadre of followers, and there's even a field guide devoted to the insects. But in this country, the Syrphids are pretty much left to the specialists. I've started, haltingly, to be sure, going down that road and, thanks to BugGuide—the best go-to site online for insect identification help—and a group of Canadian biologists who've published an online field guide to the Syrphids, as flower flies are also called, I think I've got a name for this little charmer, whose distinctive markings tell me that she's—the pointed end of the abdomen reveals her sex—a member of the Toxomerus clan, and probably T. geminatus. I suppose I could be smug, but I'll hold off until I've managed a few additional IDs.