Hovering Insects ID?

Moved

… Chen Young, 15 November, 2009 - 3:22pm

Moved

Moved from Flies.

… John F. Carr, 14 November, 2009 - 8:26pm

Probably a crane fly

This is not any sort of "midge", so-called. The legs are too long. I can not confirm or deny the two independent diagonostic features of the crane flies -- two anal veins and a V-shaped groove in the thorax.

Few families have so many wing veins and that general appearance.

… John F. Carr, 8 November, 2009 - 6:11pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… John R. Maxwell, 8 November, 2009 - 1:24pm

We have both midge and crane fly experts...

...at our disposal here on this site, so I'd recommend leaving these images in ID Request a little longer (or you could move them to Flies) and hopefully we'll get some more definitive commentary.

… Harsi S. Parker, 8 November, 2009 - 1:11pm

midges?

This does look like a cranefly, but the flying in groups behavior reminds me of midges. I took a picture of some of these this summer, but I can't find it (I may not have posted it?).

… Lynette Elliott, 8 November, 2009 - 10:40am

Crane Fly?

The overall appearance reminds me of a crane fly.

… Andrew Williams, 7 November, 2009 - 2:33pm

Do Crane Flys come this tiny?

And what's with the undulating dance? I just couldn't figure out what they hoped to accomplish by that wheeling pattern. They didn't seem particularly interested in one another - only in the dance.

… Cathy Wilson, 7 November, 2009 - 5:54pm

Dancing behavior...

Just a few comments from Chen Young that I thought might be interesting to ponder:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/81892#89819
http://bugguide.net/node/view/82086#90153

(BTW, like Andy, I'm more than willing to believe that these could be something other than crane flies... I'm just speculating that if they are indeed crane flies, I think it is plausible that they could be this small and engage in this sort of behavior.)

… Harsi S. Parker, 7 November, 2009 - 7:21pm

Works for me!

Thanks for the link, Harsi. Chen Young's description appears to be a good fit.

… Cathy Wilson, 8 November, 2009 - 8:16am

What is your idea of "tiny"?

For instance, some of the Limoniid Crane Flies are regularly listed between 5 and 8 mm. Would you say the flies you observed were smaller than that?

… Harsi S. Parker, 7 November, 2009 - 7:14pm

OK. That's tiny!

Yep. They were certainly no smaller than your 5mm to 8mm range.
Thanks, Harsi.

… Cathy Wilson, 8 November, 2009 - 6:37am

tiny craneflies

That did cross my mind. Maybe it's a relative. Best to wait for more comments. I'm constantly surprised by things on here, so who knows.

… Andrew Williams, 7 November, 2009 - 6:58pm

It is

winter crane fly . They like to form small swarm in sunny days in late fall and early spring. - Chen

… Chen Young, 15 November, 2009 - 3:21pm

Thank you, Chen . .

mystery solved. No fairies, but fantastic, nevertheless :-)

… Cathy Wilson, 15 November, 2009 - 8:54pm