It's really a yellow jacket hover fly

A bit disappointing...but love the new BUG link I discovered in the process of trying to find out what my "bee" really was. The bugman answered my question very quickly and I now know that my bee....isn't a bee at all. Here is what the bugman told me about my bee:

Dear Kimberly,

This is a Yellow Jacket Hover Fly, Milesia virginiensis. It is one of the Syrphid Flies in the family Syrphidae, commonly called Flower Flies or Hover Flies. Many species in the family mimic bees and wasps, hence your original confusion. The adult Yellow Jacket Hover Fly feeds on nectar and pollen from plants like Queen Anne’s Lace, and it will also be attracted to the blooms of related plants in your garden like parsley, dill and carrots. BugGuide.com has a wealth of information on the Yellow Jacket Hover Fly, including this tidbit gleaned from AllExperts.com: “Flies aggressively and buzzes like a hornet. In the southern United States, sometimes called the news bee or good news bee for its habit of hovering in front of a person and “giving them the news”. It is also said to be good luck if one can get the insect to perch on a finger, no doubt because this is difficult to do.“

Sincerely,

the Bugman