Tay Meadows Tidbit – Winter crane fly

Today was lovely and balmy, reaching a mild 6°C (43°F) at the high in mid-afternoon. Raven got lots of exercise today – Dan took her out in the morning, and then I took her with me in the afternoon. It was just too nice a winter’s day to not get out at all.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones feeling that way. While returning from the hike to the 100-acre woods, I noticed a midge-like insect fly across my path. I wasn’t able to catch it to identify what it was, but I was intrigued to find anything at all out flying in the middle of winter, six degrees or no. After dinner I was in the kitchen making myself some tea when Dan put Raven out on her tie-out to pee. When he came back in he said there was an insect by the front porch light, so naturally I had to check it out.

I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing that was flying in the woods. A member of the Order Diptera, I’m pretty sure this is a Winter Crane Fly, one of 29 species in the family Trichoceridae (all but two are in the genus Trichocera). I had to check the wing veination just to make sure of its family, as they can resemble true crane flies, Tipulidae. I actually looked up midges in my Kaufman Insect Guide first, and only checked other options when it clearly wasn’t a midge (lacking fluffy antennae). Apparently the most definitive way to tell winter crane flies from true crane flies is that the former have ocelli on their heads while the latter don’t, but these simple eyes are pretty small and easily missed (especially if you don’t get the head in focus in your photo, like me).

Winter crane flies are cold-weather adapted and are usually seen in late fall and early spring. They are occasionally encountered on warm, sunny winter days, as well, but I gather more often in the milder northwest than in our area. There isn’t a whole lot of info readily available on them on the ‘net. The larvae are scavengers, primarily of decaying vegetation. I get the impression the adults overwinter in logs or cozy nooks and crannies, and in the spring males will hang about in mating swarms in front of caves or hollow trees, though the purpose of their swarms is my own hypothesis and not actually indicated in my references.

I’m hosting I and the Bird #117 next Thursday.

PLEASE NOTE – my email service has been down since Monday; if you tried to send me your link in the last few days, I may not have received it. Please send it to seabrooke AT hotmail.com, which is the address I’m using until the server issues get sorted out (hopefully this weekend).

Author: Seabrooke

Author of Peterson Field Guide to Moths. #WriteOnCon Mastermind. Writer of action/thriller SF/F YA. Story junkie. Nature nut. Tea addict. Mother. Finding happiness in the little things. Twitter: @SeabrookeN / @SeabrookeLeckie View all posts by Seabrooke