Hover Flies : " I'm Not A Bee!" ... not that that's a bad thing.

My name is Hoover and I am a Hover Fly.
I am NOT a bee.
What some bees and I have in common is my appearance and my awesome importance to gardeners and farmers.

So, bees and hover flies, we're both insects and we both fly, we both pollinate flowers, and we both look pretty awesome.
And even though plenty of bees (and wasps) don't have the traditional striping we associate with bees, I do resemble some of the more common bees and hornets ... that's an evolutionary adaptation called "mimicry".
I'm totally harmless, but looking like an irritable stinger packing hornet or bee gives me extra protection against predators.
Lots of animals use mimicry and it works great! 

... Except with humans ... it can work in reverse and I get sprayed or swatted in a case of mistaken identity.
Ignorance ... what a bummer that  is ... just ask any harmless nonvenomous snake that was sliced, diced, or just run over for being a snake.
Ignorance kills the innocent.
(Not that venomous snakes are "bad", but that's a whole nother post ...)

I am called a "Hover Fly", because that's what I do.
I hover.
I also buzz really loudly while I hover.
If you come close while I am busy hovering, I may move up, down, forwards, or even backwards like a helicopter.
I love hovering in place and may do this for pretty long periods of time.
It's my thing ... hovering ... I'm a hover fly, bro.
Here's some official good news about me from
Texas A &M University.

"Adult hover flies are important pollinators and can be found feeding at flower blossoms or around aphid colonies, where they lay their eggs. The larvae of hover flies are important predators of pests, such as aphids, scales, thrips and caterpillars. 

They are rivaled only by ladybird beetles and lacewings. When hover fly larvae populations are high, they may control 70 to 100% of an aphid population. 

Aphids alone cause tens of millions of dollars of damage annually to crops worldwide, so the aphid-feeding hover flies are being recognized as potential agents for use in biological control."

You can click on that Texas A& M link up above to learn more about my hover fly awesomeness.

Just remember, I can't help you control pests in a poisoned garden.
Pesticides aren't selective.

Finally,  ... not being rude here, but I wanted to just show you my butt so you can see I have no stinger.

I am not a bee, wasp, or hornet.

I show you my behind,
in hopes you'll be kind.

Buck UP!

Last year's spotted fawn became this year's spike buck, and now, as summer slides along ...

... he's forking off in my garden.

Not shown in this picture, a doe and a new spotted fawn that was playing like a frisky lab puppy while the adults browsed.
(I took these photos without leaving the back porch.)

Five Year Pond Check Up ... Frogdiggity!

If you go way back to 2009, you can see how this tiny pond in my oak-palm hammock came to be.

(Dear North of the St. Mary's River friends, in Florida, a "hammock" is a shady forest habitat of mostly hardwoods)

Two days ago, Bear, Coquina, and I were taking a walk through the hammock, enjoying its shade and fresh deer smells. As we approached the little pond, I could see 7 leopard frogs sitting on the rim.

The pups spooked them of course, but I came back alone a little while later and some of them were still hanging out.

I always place a stick of some kind in water holes like this, so the skinks, anoles, and other crawlies have a way of exiting when they fall in.
Bums me out to find a drowned lizard in something I created.

This was the lone swimmer.
Lone frog swimmer that is ... A small school of Gambusia minnows patrol the depths gobbling up mosquito eggs and larvae as soon as the mosquitoes deposit them.
I have no mosquitoes at my place and I'm beyond poison spewing mosquito control routes (Thankfully!) ...
I give credit for the lack of mosquitoes in this very wet 2014 summer to the many Gambusia inhabited water features on my 10 acres.
They are ravenous skeeter beaters ... with no harmful side effects.

This frog was "one with the log" and never moved as I moved around to get pics.

I was surprised, but happy to see so many frogs using the tiny hammock watering hole. Surprised, because 40 feet away was the big "real" pond, and happy because, I don't usually catch anybody in the act of using it, although I'm sure it acts as a water source for the deer and other critters that live or cross through PFHQ.

After air, there's really nothing more important than water, and its such a simple thing to add to any landscape. This little pond shell was about 10 bucks in 2009 and needs no pump to do it's job.


(The Gambusia are tough as nails and can survive low oxygen, plus there are just a few in there)... of course, now that I think about it, I have tons of Anacharis in another water feature that I could add to this little pond.
A little shady, but they are great little oxygen producers so it's worth adding a few sprigs.

No telling who might show up if you diversify your place by adding any of the 3 biggies:
1. Food
   2. Shelter
  3. Water

Which reminds me, the brush piles have all rotted away so I need to work on number 2.

The Kite Nebula

The Kite Nebula as seen from Pure Florida HQ.

Tubing The Ocoee River In Blue Ridge, Georgia

Barney, the Tube Lab. We got to the tube rental site pretty early and ahead of the crowds. As we walked up, Barney was standing near the rental check-in shack, silently staring at a tennis ball on the ground in front of him.
He was completely focused on it, except for quick glances up at you and then back to the ball.
Luckily, we all speak Labrador, so we repeatedly tossed the ball for Barney while we waited.
He's a sweetheart.
He was a wacky youngster when we first started tubing the Ocoee.

Run!
Beware the disembodied head!
So much for that selfie ... this is our crew, minus a few stragglers.

So weird to actually see the slope of the river.
Too subtle in FLat FL.

Pretty good-looking crew.
I never did get  a shot of all of us together... some of us float faster than others.

This damselfly stowed away for a bit on my finger. He stayed there as I dug the camera out of the mesh bag (which was zipped up) and turned it on ... single- handedly.

I thought sure he would leave as soon as I finished my camera grabbing shenanigans, but no! He actually cooperated.
Sweet.

It was the 4th of July holiday weekend, so getting a river photo without pink tubes was a bit of a challenge, but I did squeak in this one.

This is a must do for us every time we head up to Blue Ridge in warm weather.
It wasn't Florida, ... no humidity, blast furnace heat, or bugs,  but I have to admit, it was a blast.
The best tube vendor on the river is Toccoa Valley Campground. The place is clean, friendly, and upstream enough to give you a perfect 6 mile section of the river to float down.
When your float is done, their fleet of big vans will be waiting to bring you back to your starting point at the campground.
The whole process from tube checkout to van ride back is smooth and carefree.
(Plus ... they have Barney, the chocolate Lab)
Go.
Have fun.

Owl Where He Belongs, Deer Where She Don't

Just when I was wondering, " Where are my Barred Owls? They always raise a few chicks here in the summer, " ...they showed up.
I'm looking forward to some whiny, scruffy chicks up in the branches as summer progresses.
Maybe they'll dine on some of my muscadine/scuppernong stealing squirrel (over)population.

Just when I was saying, " I need to plant more blueberries, they produce with minimal care and even the deer don't mess with them," ... they showed up.

Which doesn't change my opinion one bit. In fact, I'll need to plant even more blueberries if I'm going to be sharing with the deer AND the cardinals.