Thick-Legged Hover Fly

Thick-Legged Hover Fly

Syritta pipiens

Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Jerusalem

In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%

9 Verified sightings at Jerusalem
137 In all 9 parks From 2019 to 2026
May Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Thick-Legged Hover Fly

Syritta pipiens, sometimes called the thick-legged hoverfly, is one of the most common species in the insect family Syrphidae. This fly originates from Europe and is currently distributed across Eurasia and North America. They are fast and nimble fliers, and their larvae are found in wet, rotting organic matter such as garden compost, manure, and silage. The species is also commonly found in human-created environments such as most farmland, gardens, and urban parks, wherever there are flowers. This species is an important part of its native ecosystem as adult Syritta pipiens flies are critical pollinators for a variety of flowering plants and the species supports parasitism by various parasitic wasp species. Thus, they play an important role in environmental functionality, and can serve as bio-indicators, in which their abundance can reflect the health of the environment. Syritta pipiens looks like many predatory hoverfly species, yet is not predatory.

The species Syritta pipiens is within the family of Syrphidae, commonly called hover or flower flies. Syrphidae is one of the largest families within the Diptera order and contains about 6,000 known species widely distributed... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Acadia National Park 🇺🇸 United States
~10%
2 Camargue 🇫🇷 France
~10%
3 Snowdonia National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
4 Great Bear Rainforest 🇨🇦 Canada
~10%
5 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%
6 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%
7 Shenandoah National Park 🇺🇸 United States
<5%
8 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
9 Yellowstone National Park 🇺🇸 United States
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Birmingham 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
2 London 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
3 Liverpool 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
4 Manchester 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
5 Jerusalem 🇮🇱 Israel
~10%
6 Boston 🇺🇸 United States
~10%
7 Kharkiv 🇺🇦 Ukraine
~10%
8 Warsaw 🇵🇱 Poland
~10%
9 Algiers 🇩🇿 Algeria
~10%
10 Budapest 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Thick-Legged Hover Fly in Jerusalem?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Thick-Legged Hover Fly sighting in Jerusalem on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 66th most-seen of the 137 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Thick-Legged Hover Fly in Jerusalem?

May

In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Thick-Legged Hover Fly in Jerusalem on a given day, against under 5% in July and September–March, the lowest months. That is one of Jerusalem's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 90 mm in January.

What time of day is best to see a Thick-Legged Hover Fly?

Between 11 am and 2 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Thick-Legged Hover Fly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Jerusalem the best place to see a Thick-Legged Hover Fly?

5th of 64

Of the 64 cities where we can rate Thick-Legged Hover Fly sightings, Jerusalem ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Birmingham (United Kingdom, about 20%), London (United Kingdom, about 20%) and Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 20%).

Which relatives of the Thick-Legged Hover Fly live in Jerusalem?

Same family: Syrphidae

The closest relatives of the Thick-Legged Hover Fly that you can see in Jerusalem (family Syrphidae, Hover Flies) are Stripe-Eyed Lagoon Fly (about 30%), Migrant Hover Fly (about 20%) and Common Drone Fly (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Thick-Legged Hover Fly sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Thick-Legged Hover Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Jerusalem (9 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.

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