When I spotted this striking insect, which I suspected was a flower fly, I got instantly excited. If I'd been birding, I would have known right away that I had one for the life list. Well, syrphidologists keep life lists, too, and while I don't yet have a back-pocket one—I'm not quite a genuine syrphidologist, although I'm getting close—I know a new species when I see one. As I watched the golden-haired fly work its way over the hydrangea flowers then camp out on a hydrangea leaf, I was mesmerized and could only hope that my glee wouldn't get in the way of a good shot that could help me with an identification. Fortunately, my hands held steady, and after a long tour through Jeff Skevington and company's field guide to the flower flies, I learned that I'd apparently been graced with a visit from an uncommon syrphid called, appropriately enough, a Goldenback. It's in the genus Pterallastes, a group with a disparate distribution: two species in China, one in Japan, and one, P. thoracicus, in my backyard... well, and much of the northeast.