I have a pollinators that looks like a cuckoo bee, but it’s wings open like a fly. What is it or am I just confused about a fly having wings out when visiting a flower and a bee folds its wings when on the flower?
Sounds like you have something less common than our four visitor groups. Perhaps it’s a syrphid fly? Check for other characteristics of bees vs flies, and you could look at bugguide.net to see if you can find something that looks like it. If you can’t figure it out, don’t worry! Just record an unknown visitor.
I’m sorry I missed your question until now. I’m not sure what that pollinator would be – it might have been a larger species of Andrena. Could you tell if it was a bee or a fly? In any case, just record it as “unknown”.
Spring Beauty and the Bees 
I have a pollinators that looks like a cuckoo bee, but it’s wings open like a fly. What is it or am I just confused about a fly having wings out when visiting a flower and a bee folds its wings when on the flower?
Sounds like you have something less common than our four visitor groups. Perhaps it’s a syrphid fly? Check for other characteristics of bees vs flies, and you could look at bugguide.net to see if you can find something that looks like it. If you can’t figure it out, don’t worry! Just record an unknown visitor.
I have a pollinator that’s the size of a honey-bee, but black except for yellow across the shoulders.
??
Hello Jean,
I’m sorry I missed your question until now. I’m not sure what that pollinator would be – it might have been a larger species of Andrena. Could you tell if it was a bee or a fly? In any case, just record it as “unknown”.
Alison