A Quiet Evening at Home

Even a quick trip out to retrieve a bird feeder means brief entry into the strange world of insects.  Just before I put my hand on the deck post, something caught my eye.  I ran inside, grabbed the camera, came back out, and started snapping.

Crane flies like this pair have been wobbling all over Sewanee for several weeks now.  I have watched them stuttering in the grass, lifting upwards as if on thermals, mating on leaves and grass, and ovipositing in the lake. 

I snapped and snapped this pair, and they never blinked or moved.  (Can they blink?  Do they blink?)  If insects can have calm and dignity, this pair had calm and dignity.

Here's what I have learned so far about crane flies: adults do not eat; adults live only a few days and only to mate and oviposit eggs; larvae live in water and eat decaying plant matter; "swarms of males dance above treetops looking for females"; nicknames include "leatherjackets"; the little knobby "lollipops" behind the wings are halteres, which function as gyroscopes when "flapped rapidly"; and "at least 4,256 species of crane flies have been described, most of them (75%)" by one man.

Read that again: 4,256 species.  Now that's a number that puts humankind to shame.  Impressive, yes?