Eristalis flavipes
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 Portland on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 249th most-seen of the 507 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange-Legged Drone Fly in Portland on a given day, against under 5% in September to July, the lowest months. That is one of Portland's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 250 mm in December.
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.
3rd of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Orange-Legged Drone Fly sightings, Portland ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Anchorage (United States, about 10%) and Minneapolis [Saint Paul] (United States, under 5%).
Same genus: Eristalis
The closest relatives of the Orange-Legged Drone Fly that you can see in Portland (genus Eristalis, Drone Flies) are Eurasian Drone Fly (about 10%) and Common Drone 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 Portland (17 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.
