I took these pictures the other day
and ended up sending them to Miranda Kennedy, who is in charge of the Finch Frolic Garden Facebook web pages. https://m.facebook.com/pages/Finch-Frolic-Garden/251343911703713?_rdr She sent me the following wonderful response.
> The fly is definitely a hover fly (Family Syrphidae), but not like any other I’ve seen, with those exotic striped eyes. Truly exotic, because it’s actually an African (& Mediterranean and Middle Eastern) species that colonized Florida and was first recorded in California in 2006. It’s Eristalinus taeniops, known as the Band-eyed Drone Fly or apparently ‘Mosca Tigre’ or Tiger Fly. They’re pollen and nectar eaters like other syrphids and therefore pollinators. Syrphids purposefully mimic bees and wasps for the possible protection. What’s really fun about the drone flies is that their larvae are called “rat-tailed maggots” because of the long skinny tubes projecting from the back of their abdomens which lets them breathe underwater (they are aquatic). Fun. :D
And that’s apparently why it was where it was. It was exploring my constructed wetland. Viva le diversity.