Syrphus torvus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Syrphus torvus, the Hairy-eyed Flower Fly, is a common species of hoverfly found in the Holarctic. The adults feed on pollen and nectar, but the larvae feed on aphids. External images. For terminology see Speight key to genera and glossary. Eyes have numerous hairs, in male, long and dense, in female shorter. Femora 3 is black on basal 3/4. The male genitalia and the larva are illustrated by Dusek and Laska (1964).
See references for determination. Palearctic: Greenland and Fennoscandia southward to Iberia and the Mediterranean basin through Europe into Turkey and European Russia. Also from Urals eastward to Siberia and the Russian Far East to the Pacific coast (Kuril Isles) and Japan. Indomalaya Formosa, Northern India, Nepal, and Thailand.
Nearctic: from Alaska southward to New Mexico. Migratory. Large numbers of hoverflies of this species and of Metasyrphus sp. have been observed on Denali in the Rocky Mountains at altitudes of 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) at the head of the Kahiltna Glacier.
Habitat: Abies, Picea and Pinus forest and Betula, Fagus, Quercus forest and dwarf-shrub tundra. It is synanthropic in suburban gardens with mature... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Brussels | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 3 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Leeds | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Copenhagen | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 7 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 8 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy-Eyed Flower Fly sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 964th most-seen of the 1115 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Hairy-Eyed Flower Fly in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May–August and October–March, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hairy-Eyed Flower Fly sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Hairy-Eyed Flower Fly sightings, Bavarian Forest National Park has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hairy-Eyed Flower Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
