I'm generally not all that into flies. In fact, I'm rather inclined to swat them, and I do. Since I've started paying more attention to the critters in my butterfly garden though, I've noticed that there are different kinds of flies. I knew that before, of course, but it's so hard to tell once they're swatted.... and who looks?

In any case, since they're out there, and they do have some neat colors, like the red eyes on this mating pair, and the metallic blue of one further down the page, here they are for you to (cough, choke) enjoy too.

The metallic blue fly is really tiny. I see them fairly often, but they leave when I get close. I'll keep trying to get a better picture when I notice them in my garden.

The fly on the left is slurping nectar from a Spermacoce verticillata flower.  It's a weed, but I like it, because my butterflies sip nectar from it once in a while too.

If you're the sort of person who really knows their flies, please email me the real names of these critters and I'll add that to the page and credit you with identifying them.

I'll add more as they land in camera range.

There's a very big fly down here in South Florida that looks like a bee. It's called a Mydas Fly, and I gave it it's own page.