the fabulous flesh fly (pic)

[Ecooper]

I attracted this gorgeous flesh fly (Sarcophaga sp.) by putting the remains of a sockeye salmon out on my deck (as part of the “Flyday” series on my blog). These flies aren’t too skittish (at least not when they are feasting on some fine BC sockeye), so photography was straightforward. The Zuiko 60mm macro lens I am using provided plenty of working distance. One nice thing about these flies is that they are not shiny. That plus their grey background colour makes lighting them easy. This one is cleaning up after feeding.

Part of me wishes that flies like this were the size of canaries. Then people would better appreciate how attractive they are. They’d probably make good pets too. Just imagine a birdcage hanging in your kitchen, with your favourite flesh fly sitting on its perch buzzing contentedly. It would be just like having a purring cat in your lap! Well, except for having to feed it dead things. And then there are the maggots....

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

Olympus OM-D E-M5; Zuiko 60mm micro 4/3 macro; manual exposure (F11 @ 1/200 sec); Olympus RF-11 ring flash (1/2 power); 200


P8100212 flesh fly copyright ernie cooper 2013 final by ernie.cooper, on Flickr