21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
FACE OF CRANEFLY

These are Cranefly hanging from spider’s web silk. These are the tinniest, smallest and lightest fly I have ever seen. It has crane like long legs. With these legs they hang from web silks. This fly can be seen near forest area hanging from spider web silks. I get this fly every year from spring to before start of heavy cold. They are so light that they can fly even with light winds and noise. They vibrate with the sound of a moving motorcycle. When photographing this fly adjacent to road side, one can face this problem. Due to small in size it is very tough to identify unless sun ray fall on it. I found these fly near an abandoned forest area (called TAPURHAT forest, West Bengal, Cooch Behar, India) adjacent to a road on the way to my school. I carry camera with me and try to photograph them after school closing every day. I have seen very big sized spiders like Giant wood spiders, Orb Weaver spider etc. One day I saw these two cranefly hanging between two big teak wood trees. I chanced to take a wide angle macro image with every detail of the fly and a beautiful background bokeh.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 12.2022
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Cooch Behar, India
Camera: NIKON D500
Copyright: © ANIRBAN DUTTA