What Are Crane Flies? 5 Things to Know About These Mosquito-Looking Bugs

A few weeks ago I was in my living room, watching TV (which is where you'll find me 90% of the time), when I noticed a bug flying around the room. It's not uncommon for this to happen, especially during the warmer times of the year, as the door to our backyard is in the room and it's where we let our dog in and out of the house. What was uncommon was the bug itself. It seemed to float around the room more than fly. When it finally landed on the wall, I took a closer look, and thought it was a mosquito. So, I did what I assume you would do; I went to the kitchen, grabbed a paper towel, smashed it, and through it in the trash. Done and done, or so I thought. Over the next few weeks, this became a regular routine that would happen a handful of times every evening. It finally dawned on me after awhile that even though whatever these things were looked like mosquitoes, they weren't biting anyone in the house, nor were they getting anywhere near anyone in the house like a mosquito looking for meal does. So, what in the world were they?

It's called a Crane Fly, and this is what you need to know about them.

The good news is, other than the fact they're harmless, like most bugs, as colder temperatures start settling into the Tri-State, they'll start to die off, and I won't have to worry about 10 of them flying into my house when I let the dog out until spring. I guess I better make sure to have plenty of paper towels on hand.