Things that fly

I really want to know what this insect is. It was on my ichiban(oops, not ichiban, actually my turkish orange eggplant) yesterday and today on a sunflower. Be it friend or foe? I have to know!

Strauzia longipennis
sunflower maggot fly
I had an assist from an internet acquaintance. The site that confirmed it is BugGuide.Net
I found more detailed info about this variety of fruitfly here, North American Insects and Spiders, via wiki. Gotta love the internets! Instant info.

Guess it's bad but it's pretty.

I finally have documentation of hummingbird visits. They come by pretty frequently now, every few minutes, at least at dawn and dusk, rather than once every few days. It is true that salvia guaranitica is a hummingbird magnet. They LOVE it. I think during the day they get scared of people. There is a lot of foot traffic on my street and next door a 6 unit apartment building whose entrance is 15 feet(5 metres for you metric types) from my front door.

I've been obsessed. Last night, as dusk set in and this morning at the crack of dawn I staked them out. The 1st picture is from this morning, the second from last night. I think I used a flash for both.