sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

This is the preserved horse fly that I keep in the freezer along with other fuzzy and hairy specimens. This one is going on its second year and appears to be holding up well so I staged it for a focus-stacking session with the Laowa 60mm f/2.8 1X-2X Super Macro lens dialed in at 1.5X to fill the frame of the camera and set at f/5.6.

Horse Flies, also known as Gadflies, are super-sized flies that excel at aggravating livestock and people. Though adults mostly drink nectar and plant juices (as you can see from the grains of pollen stuck on its hairs), female horse flies need protein in order to produce eggs.

Unfortunately for us, blood is the source of this protein and it can come from people, horses, cows, sheep, deer, or even rabbits. The bite from a horse fly female can be felt right away, creating a red bump that hurts like the dickens. Swat at them as you may, they are persistent in biting.

Horse flies are active during the day and rest at night. They do not like darkness so they are less likely to bite us when we are in the shade. Some bloodborne pathogens can be transmitted from animal to animal through a horse fly bite and some treatable diseases like tularemia can be passed from animal to human which makes them not only a painful pest, but one that can transmit disease also.

(Download)

Mark Sturtevant Loc: Grand Blanc, MI

Well done!

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Fantastic!!!!
I'M gonna need a bigger fly swatter!

Mr. B Loc: eastern Connecticut

Fantastic!

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Mark. I appreciate your feedback.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Manglesphoto, swat every one of those S.O.B.s that you see...!

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Mr. B. Glad that you could stop by.

dsturr

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Dsturr. It's nice to know that you enjoyed viewing it.

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Cool subject Sippy, I have painful memories of those varmints from when I lived in Florida

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Thanks, Curmudgeon. I was a lad, I was a lifeguard at the Turner Camp which was a German athletic society. I'd sit on the lifeguard stand all day baking in the sun and the horse flies would bite the dickens out of me. I'd get severe sunburn at the start of each season and those little bastards knew exactly where to bite that would hurt the most.