Bee Fly

Bee flies do not sting or bite and are completely harmless to humans and pets. The conspicous needle-like proboscis is adapted for sucking flower nectar. Many bee flies hover in midair while doing their nectaring, undoubtedly to avoid capture by insects or spiders lurking about flower blooms, looking for an easy meal, e.g. ambush bugs and crab spiders.
I most often see bee flies around flowers, or if resting, usually on the ground on bare soil. They are extremely wary and difficult to approach. No doubt their large compound eyes give them good vision, plus they have that air-motion sensing mechanism that helps the ordinary house fly avoid the swatter. Adult bee flies drink nectar, but the larvae are parasites of beetle larvae as well as the brood of solitary wasps and bees, the hole or burrow-nesting insects.