The Fly

Out at Malagash where the trees are green, the fields are big and the sun is bright there are also strange creatures in the grass and the air. There is an insect here known as the Daddy Long Legs (where I grew up that name was reserved for a spider also known as Harvestmen) but they are also called the Crane Fly. They are these weird winged insects that are completely harmless and reside in Malagash in the thousands. So I was taking photos of the puppies bouncing around and every step they took these DLL would drift up out of the grass and then settle. It was an interesting experience to have these rather large insects, who are very bad at flying, rise out of the grass at your feet, float away from you and then disappear into the grass again. The puppies did not appear to notice them at all but my camera did. They are surrounding the puppies, both in and out of focus, in this one. If you want a closer look at the bugs (why would you?) click on the photo to make it larger.

The big splodge just left of centre is one of the insects that is not within my focal range but large enough to be seen out of focus ... they are quite big bugs!  They only hang around for a couple weeks of the year, are completely harmless and presumably fatten the birds of the area for winter. As I walked with my mom and discussed what they were called (DLL as a flying insect in England vs DLL spiders in Alberta) we both agreed that whatever they are called, at least they are not spiders with wings.