2020 has become the year of breaking news, big things have happened, and major things are still to come this year. One of Tucson’s  towering events this month has seemed to be a crane fly invasion,  swarming weeds in backyards to hovering around any light source they can find. Luckily for us Tucsonans they DO NOT BITE. Unfortunately the massive rain fall we had during November through January of last year helped wet the soil here in Tucson, triggering the large activity in crane flight.

The continuous amount of rain fall caused wildflowers and masses of grass to grow all throughout town, producing a massive amount of good food for the crane fly larvae (baby crane flies). With the large amount of nourishment for the babies, they seemed to grow in a rapid speed and are now in adulthood, taking to the skies around town. Crane flies don’t have any food source once they become adults, they have to conserve their energy from when they were a larvae. To do so they just hang out doing absolutely nothing, which most of us will be envious of, but they do serve as a food source for other species such as birds and bats during winter.

If you tend to be concerned about a large amount of flies in town, don’t. Do not be alarmed by the mass numbers of crane flies that have entered our skies and are now swarming everywhere, they don’t cause any harm to us humans nor do they carry any diseases. They just want to hang with us till the birds and bats decide they’re hungry, so hang tight – the invasion will be done before you know it.