Caught this beautiful horse fly today, I’m a sucker for a tabanid I guess.

Not a great photo for seeing the defining characteristics, like the legs, but a nice profile of the goofy looking body.

We went to Monomoy Island yesterday, which is a 7,600 acre national wildlife refuge off of Chatham (Cape Cod) that is home to several endangered and threatened animals as well as being a hot spot for migratory birds. Some of the important animals on this island include the Roseate Tern (added onto the endangered and threatened wildlife list in 1987), the Piping Plover (under the protection of the Endangered Species Act since 1986) and the Northeastern Beach Tiger beetle.

Other very cool birds on the island include the American Oystercatcher

Semipalmated Plovers

Common Terns

And even Horned Larks

I didn’t find any of the Northeastern Beach Tiger beetles, but did find this Big Sand Tiger beetle.

Don’t you think this grasshopper is cleverly camouflaged?

The island is also famous stopping point for sea lions…

It was just last weekend that people reported seeing a great white shark feeding on a sea lion off of Chatham here on the Cape.

We originally went because there were reports earlier in the week of a tricolored heron, sandwich terns, and roseate terns spotted there. No luck on seeing those species though.

A botfly! Let me tell you, I watched this fly buzz around for about 3 minutes before I realized what it was. And of course I know I looked like a crazy nerd as I chased after it, such is the life of an entomologist

These flies belong to the family Oestridae, genus Cuterebra. They are parasitic flies and the females deposit eggs onto the skin of vertebrate hosts. Body heat from the host triggers the larvae to hatch and burrow underneath the skin. The larvae encyst below the skin and cause a lump that is known as a warble. The larvae feed on host body fluids, not necessarily blood. Just before pupation the larvae bore out of the host and finish development in the soil. Adults do not feed, and in fact, have vestigial mouth parts.

We only have one genus (and some 26 species) in the US. The species we have only parasitise rodents and horses. Human botflies have a distribution limited to the tropics.