Thanks Bob and Eric.
I'm afraid that I'm guilty of jumping to conclusions based on sloppy observations and unwarranted assumptions, which led to a misleading title. I had seen some robber flies on these flowers earlier, and not being very familiar with fly families, assumed that's what these predatory flies were too. Nope. Further research has revealed that they are two different, but still interesting, types of predatory flies. I've changed the thread title to reflect that.
The first one is a male Golden Dung Fly, so named because of the color of the adult males, and the substance in which larvae make their home. Larvae are very important in nature because of their role in breaking down the, uh, excrement that other animals leave behind. Adults catch other insects for a living, and so hang out in buggy neighborhoods like flowers. This interesting critter is a master of adaptation, having colonized much of the planet--just about anywhere there is animal crap, there you will find them.
The second image is of a Tiger Fly. The behavior that it's exhibiting here perhaps partially accounts for the name, but some individuals also have black stripes on the abdomen. It's also widely distributed across continents.
Flies could hardly be called cute, but viewed up close I have to think they qualify as interesting.
