What a summer! We've been blessed with lower-than-usual temps AND occasional rain. Two nights ago, we had half an inch of wet stuff! Yesterday and today, the temperatures have stayed in the mid to high 80s, thanks to a cold front (in JULY?). So yesterday evening, I decided to sit outside on a patio and just enjoy the time. Now and then I batted at mosquitoes. But even they weren't too bad. Later James joined me. Then something lit on my arm. I nearly swatted at it, thinking Oh, bother, another mosquito. Then I looked closer. NOT! I took photos for an iNaturalist observation and, my goodness, the little fellow stuck around. He was so friendly!
I assumed he flew off as we walked back into the house for the night. On iNaturalist, I proposed my little friend's ID as a longhorn cactus fly (Odontoloxozus longicornis). A new-to-me species!
Now fast forward to today at the kitchen sink, washing up from lunch. I happened to glance down by our pink sponge–
"HE'S BACK. HE FOUND ME," I exclaimed to James. A cactus fly was crawling on the back splash behind the sink! James laughed. He recognized it, too. Was it the same one as last night's? Well, of course, I'm going to believe so. Sure makes a better story, right? I shot lots more photos (below) for another iNaturalist observation and a blog post as well.
We went outside, and my fly friend stuck right with me on my hand. He flew off a few times but landed right back on me. My shirt. My head. My glasses. And my leg. Finally, I placed him on our house siding. He flew off, but this time didn't come back. Sniff. I miss him. Maybe he'll find me again sometime.
2 comments:
My husband and I had a similar experience sitting in our backyard in Tucson close to sunset time. I took a photo with my iPad and used it in a Google search. That lead us to your photos and story. We found our Longhorned Cactus Fly also to be very friendly and almost curious as it explored walking on his wrist and hand. It did not seem afraid of us or the camera. We have lots of cacti in our backyard and our property extending to the Ventana Wash, which is dry now. There is decaying cactus back there. Our prickly pear cactus are have more blooms this week than we have ever seen in the 10 years we’ve lived here. It’s probably because we did not have a freeze this winter. I enjoy your writing and will be back.
Thank you so much for reading my post and sharing your story! The longhorned cactus fly is my favorite fly. I haven’t seen one in a long time, though. I hope yours visits again soon!
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