Day 260: I can't count the number of times I've seen a Park visitor freak out when a "bee" hovered in front of their face, to then be disbelieving when I try to explain that the insect in question is a hoverfly, a bee-mimic and harmless. The combination of yellow and black stripes pushes the panic button in most people, and not without good reason. This of course works in the hoverfly's favour, keeping it from being snatched up by a bird. Besides not having a stinger, hoverflies (aka "flower flies" or syrphid flies) differ in appearance from bees in several ways, most notably that they possess only one pair of wings. Bees and wasps have two. Adult Hoverflies are known to suck "honeydew" from both aphids and scale (another insect pest), and Hoverfly larvae feed primarily (and voraciously!) on aphids. "Flower flies" are important pollinators, so count yourself doubly lucky if you have syrphids such as this specimen of Eupeodes fumipennis in your garden.
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