Perhaps this quote from the Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz summarizes the following pages and images best:
"I spent the summer traveling; I got halfway across my back yard."
As its name suggests this fly is indeed decorated. Bee flies are quite wary and it took a good deal of patience to approach closely enough to catch this handsome insect nectaring.
Some bee flies such as Systoechus sp. have a long fearsome looking proboscis but they do not sting ... it serves as a straw. As a rule these flies sip nectar while hovering (to avoid exposing themselves to Ambush Bugs?) and I seldom see them actually alight on a flower.
A bit more on bees, wasps, et al, and their insect imitators. The picture below was a fluke shot ... I happened to catch this Honeybee just as she was launching herself from the goldenrod.
A bee fly, probably a member of the genus Villa.
Another one of our local bee flies: Exoprosopa decora.
Locust Borer (Megacyllene robiniae) ... a beetle impersonating a wasp
