Large flies—this one's more than an inch long—give me pause, given that the biggest dipterans around here are typically horse flies, which have mouth parts that resemble jig saws and an inclination to use them on the flesh of more than just equine targets. But this gentleman, who is actually a gentle-woman—the wide-apart eyes are, in most flies, only found in females; males have eyes that are either very close together or even linked, although separated by a seam—is to be celebrated, not feared... well, unless you're a Carpenter Bee, the sometimes scourge of deck posts and house siding. The Carpenter Bee Fly, with its exquisite stained-glass wings, is a striking insect that spends most of its life sipping nectar from flowers and pollinating them in the process. It has no interest whatsoever in our blood and, indeed, no anatomical ability to pierce flesh and cause our vital fluids to flow. However, to carry on the generations, the CBF is forever on the lookout for Carpenter Bees, and when it finds a bee nest in wood, Xenox tigrinus, as the fly is known to dipterologists, swoops in and deposits its own eggs in the nursery. When the fly larvae hatch, they start eating bee would-be offspring. Homeowners, rejoice. Naturalists, be not afraid.