Crane Fly

[John 2]

This one is an image from last summer but it somehow always gets pushed to the back of the Q.

Nikon D7000 +70-300mmNikkor and 1.5x

[Ziggy]

Very nice catch of the Crane Fly John.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[RandyRFJP]

Excellent photo, John. Thanks for sharing it.

[Wavelength]

An uncomplicated beauty

[bnnrcn]

Very nice

[Dave Humphries]

An unusual angle John, but still with enough in focus to hold the interest.
Good background too.

It shows what I believe are the evolutionary remnants of their second pair of wings - the 'balls on sticks', quite well.

Worth digging out and showing us.

Cheers, Dave

[JBW]

very nice

[Rebel]

Really like that John!

[DanK]

nice capture.

It shows what I believe are the evolutionary remnants of their second pair of wings - the 'balls on sticks', quite well.

Yes. For those who don't follow this sort of detail, flies are the order dipertera: two wings. Most insects have 4. The vestiges Dave pointed out are called halteres, and they are thought to be used for balance. On most of the species I have photographed, they are much closer to the body and therefore not as obvious, but if you shoot from the side and more or less parallel to the critter, you can often see them, and sometimes you can catch a glimpse from the top, if a wing is out of the way. E.g., this little fly I caught in our garden:

[John 2]

Thanks all for commenting, Dave and Dan in particular for the explanations. That's one of the things that I like about this forum. You can learn about more things than just photography.