Adults often hover near flowers. The larvae have a wide range of habitats and foods with most being predators of aphids and other insects.
Some are scavengers and live in soil, decaying plant matter or in polluted water and some are parasites that live in ant or bee nests. A few are plant eaters and feed on plant tissues.
Flower flies are small to large flies that are very slender to robust. Most are brightly colored and many look like bees or wasps, but they do not sting. They have large eyes that cover almost the entire head.
There are many types of flower flies in the Pacific Northwest.