That appears to be the Boatman Fly (Pogonortalis doclea) which was originally from Australia, but it was introduced into California in the early 1960's. To the best of my knowledge no other state has the Boatman Fly. They are known for their highly patterned wings which you can see in the picture. Hope this helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Boatman Fly

Kevin, looks like a Lesser Housefly, to me. Very similar to the usual species of houseflies, only smaller. I don't see any unusual patterning in your fly, do you? :-)

By the way, once an insect develops its wings, they don't grow anymore. So there are no "baby" houseflies, just different species of houseflies. Do you want to know what a real housefly baby looks like? A maggot!

Well, I thought the wings looked to be less flared than other houseflies, but colors and whatnot? No.

So basically they're just doing the same thing in my garden than the bigger flies? Eating dog poo and landing on my seasoned ribeye before I slap it on the grill? Cool!

Didn't know that about body growth... so, metamorphosis and done, huh? Learn something new every day.

:)

Kevin

Once insects reach their full adulthood, they are done with growing and shedding their skins.

"Baby flies " is a fairly common comment....I've seen them many times, myself. Cuties.