When I was a kid, the notion that the only good fly is a dead fly was firmly hammered into my psyche. But while I'm still pretty convinced that most mosquitoes, along with variations on the black, deer, and horse fly theme can be squashed without hesitation, I've become a genuine aficionado, of other members of the insect order Diptera. The two-wingers making their livings from flower—the Syrphids—have appeared often and affectionately in this daily endeavor, and today, when I was out combing the Hydrangea blossoms for good photo candidates, I noticed a large and exceedingly hairy fly with a kind of punk appearance and deep red eyes. I didn't know its identity and while I should have simply netted it and put it in the refrigerator to calm it down while I combed the identification keys online, I went with my photos and worked my way through BugGuide.com—I often visit that masterpiece site at least once a day. For now at least, I'm placing the critter in the fly genus Juriniopsis or Archytas, both of them in the parasitic family Tachinidae, but neither harmful to our species.