Syrphus opinator
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Syrphus opinator, the black-margined flower fly, is a species of syrphid fly in the family Syrphidae. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Banff National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-Margined Flower Fly sighting in Calgary on a given day, based on 59 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 60th most-seen of the 256 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August to October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black-Margined Flower Fly in Calgary on a given day, against under 5% in November to July, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-Margined Flower Fly sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 11
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Black-Margined Flower Fly sightings, Calgary ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Sacramento (United States, about 20%), Portland (United States, about 10%) and Vancouver (Canada, about 10%).
Same family: Syrphidae
The closest relatives of the Black-Margined Flower Fly that you can see in Calgary (family Syrphidae, Hover Flies) are Common Drone Fly (about 10%), White-Bowed Smoothwing (about 10%) and Thick-Legged Hover Fly (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-Margined Flower Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Calgary (59 verified sightings), 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.
