Eileen solved a decades old mystery for me the other day when she said that in her yard crows eat leatherjackets I looked up leatherjacket...which led to it's incarnation as a Crane fly...which led to the true identity of a yearly pest that I only knew by the name of May Fly Why they are called May Flies I have no idea since they appear in March-April and are dead and gone by May. But they are a royal pain, getting everywhere. They come into the house anytime the door is open and often hitchhike on your head or clothing and most disgustingly falling into the glass or cup of whatever you are drinking and you don't see them first.......'nuff said Also, it explains why the Grackles and large black birds in my yard take great delight in stabbing their beaks into the ground and eating what they come up with....they are finding the leatherjackets. A year or so ago, a new member here on the Stew asked a question about how to keep blackbirds from pecking holes in his yard. It is likely that is what they were doing in his yard too. Thanks Eileen for making that comment.
Glad I was of some help Toni. :-D I don't mind the birds pecking holes in the grass because not only do they get rid of those pesky leatherjackets (which do far more damage) but they help to keep the lawn aerated too!!
Nope, ours are 2 - 2.5 inches in diameter and look exactly like the one in the photo. Since there are over 14,000 species of Crane Flies they do come in all sizes tho. I have seen the smaller ones that look like mosquitos too.
i never knew crane fly's were a pest but i dont know much about them either. Ive never been bitten by one so i guess there harmless to us. Just this past weekend when i was cutting the grass out front i noticed loads of them flying up when i got close. I read the other topic and got confused with some of the names given so i did some research. This is what i found.. Crane Fly Daddy Long legs - apparently there are two similar creatures often called daddy long legs. I took these quotes from an info page.. May Fly
Hmmm...very interesting. Once again the common name is a different thing for different areas. The last photo of a May Fly is what we call Shadflies here. May Flies here are little black gnat like bugs that fly in swarms in May.
yeah i guess they just have different common names for different people, i dont know much about this stuff except research on the net but with all the places in the world they are bound to be called different things. searched for Shadflies and like you said its another name for a Mayfly.. searched for black knats and came up with Mayfly Species Leptophlebia cupida. i bet fly fishermen know all about this stuff as they use lures of these bugs it seems.. http://www.troutnut.com/common-name/68/Black-Gnats these lil discussions on the forum are educating me in ways i never thought i would be educated. Whats cool is its all about nature which i love.
