BAT in da' house!

Oh yeah baby, last night while I was cooking dinner I opened the door and stepped outside - when I stepped back in there was something flying around from room to room, while my cat jumped around in the air. At first I thought it was a bird - flying so fast it was like a brown flutter, graceful as butterfly wings - but I realized it wasn't hitting any walls, it was flying with phenomenal accuracy. I knew then it was a bat in my house. Yippeeee ....
It seemed to really like my bathroom - but did it rounds into each room, occasionally landing on a wall or hanging from the ceiling.
I tried guiding it out my door, but it was not having it - i even held up a broom and it would zip right around it. A few times it flew directly in my face, then an inch away would swoop around me - making a breeze created from bat wings touching my eyes. I tried putting on gloves and grabbing the critter off the wall to set it free, which didn't work either and was the only time it touched my skin, brushing against my arm.
Shortly after I tried to grab the cutie, he started flying very low to the ground and when I saw it making a b-line for the door I ran behind it - sliding across the floor and swung the door shut behind it! Bye bye lil' bat friend!
"Creatures of the night brought to Light!" - the last unicorn

Xoxo

Golden Wasp Fly

This is one of those bugs that is extremely hard to identify because there are about a hundred other variations of this same strange mixture of features. Flies that look like wasps, wasps that look like flies - I don't know what all these guys do but it must be something important because there's so many of them. I am hoping they pick up the slack of the honey bees, since pollinating this year was at an all time low. It would be good to spread that work load around. ;)
It has very large fly like eyes and legs, but a wasp shaped body and what may be a faux stinger for a nose. It wasn't aggressive, nor was it friendly - it's coloration and shape make it look as though it's something you don't want to touch - and I wonder if that is a defensive disguise, some biomimicry action going on? Any (real or wanna be) entomologists out there know what this is?!
XoXo

Teetsie Fly On Chocolate Mint

"Teetsie" is not this bug eyed fly's scientific name, it's just what my mom called little random bee flies in New Orleans. Fashionably large eyes (like a Disney character or brooklyn hipster sunglasses) and western fringe on it's back legs - this bug seems kinda sleek, hip and modern. This is one of those flies that lands on you and licks your arm all up and down during the summer - they never bite unless you try to squish them... which is when I bite too.

XoXOoo

Big Black Spotted Fly

I have been seeing this big boy for a few weeks now, and am kind of amazed at the fact that it's so pretty... you know, and it's a fly. It landed right on my arm and didn't bite me even though I have been convinced this thing may have been a big biting black fly. It is smart but not very paranoid...a bigger fly means bigger fly brain, and I am not sure where that leads us but I am sure he's thinking about it.
The wings are like black and white stained glass and the body is ever so slightly bee-like. His wings don't make tons of noise like some flies, it is more of a wispy air flow - more gentle, more elegant. I have to wonder though, was it born of cow manure? Can anyone identify this fly?

XoXOooo

Love Bug Mating With A ...Fly?

Today was the first time I have ever seen a Love Bug in North Carolina... what made it especially eventful was it was mating with another bug that looked like a little fly! I have seen a gazillion Love Bug mating frenzies growing up in New Orleans, and the males didn't' look quite like this. Can anyone tell me if this is some special mountain man Love Bug, or have a photographed an inter-insect relationship?You can observe here in the side view above, how the head of the male bug is completely different from the head shape of the female Love Bug - and it is the typical body shape of some species of little black flies. So... what is it?
Any Entomologists out there who can give a positive identity to this mystery man would make my day !!!

Spider Eating Fly

This spider don't need no web, he just catches the fly straight up!

The Fly

I actually never saw the modern day horror film "The Fly" because I was busy watching the old classics and loving them. The original "The Fly" was totally disturbing enough for me, when the half fly half scientist is stuck on the spider web "heeeelllllpppp mmmeeee!". In New Orleans we had a weekend horror show called Morgus Presents which played the most obscure and awesome scare films (Giant Ants from Outer Space?) hosted by the mad scientist Morgus- I feel lucky to have been graced with the mystery of B horror. Here are some pictures I took this morning from the scariest fly I have ever seen, does any entomologists out there know what this guy is?