Eristalis flavipes
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Eristalis flavipes, the orange-legged drone fly, is a species of hoverfly native to North America. It flies from early April to mid-October, and occurs in a wide variety of habitats, particularly wetlands. Hoverflies get their names from the ability to remain nearly motionless while in flight. The adults are also known as flower flies for they are commonly found around and on flowers, from which they get both energy-giving nectar and protein-rich pollen. The larvae are aquatic filter-feeders of the rat-tailed type.
Eristalis flavipes strongly resembles a bumblebee. For terms see Morphology of Diptera. It is 13 to 17 mm long. Head The face, cheeks (gena) and facial stripe are shining black with short yellow pile. The antennae are dark brown and plumose basally. The eyes are broadly contiguous in the male, with eye pile confined mostly to a vertical stripe.
Thorax The mesonotum, pleurae, and scutellum, with very abundant, long, bright yellow pile over shining black except the center of the nearly hairless mesonotum. The scutellum is wholly light yellow. Abdomen The abdomen is a deep shining black with the second segment dark red and covered with long black hairs with... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-Legged Drone Fly sighting in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 195th most-seen of the 672 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.
August and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-Legged Drone Fly in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] on a given day, against under 5% in October to July, the lowest months. Those are among Minneapolis [Saint Paul]'s wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against 20 mm in January.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange-Legged Drone Fly sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Orange-Legged Drone Fly sightings, Minneapolis [Saint Paul] ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Anchorage (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Eristalis
The closest relatives of the Orange-Legged Drone Fly that you can see in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (genus Eristalis, Drone Flies) are Black-Shouldered Drone Fly (about 10%), Yellow-Shouldered Drone Fly (about 10%) and Transverse-Banded Flower Fly (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Orange-Legged Drone Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (39 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.
