What kind of bug is this?

Looks like a skeeter eater.
They’re harmless and eat mosquitos. It’s a good thing even if they seem a bit icky.

I spent some time trying to figure that out but came up with nothing, sorry. Originally I thought some sort of Mosquito Hawk but I was wrong.

I did find this interesting insect though that fit the description of your details VERY and SCARILY well. Mosquito-Wasp…Scorpion? AKA: Pelecinus

I thought it was perhaps some kind of skeeter eater.. but I’ve never seen a mosquito hawk/wasp thingy that looked like these do.. maybe they are just gigantic here? Hopefully someone knows. =D

Where I live they’re common, they’ll get big and they’ll give you a start maybe but that’s as much of a threat as they’ll ever be. They’re clumsy fliers for the most part so they won’t surprise you. Mosquitos themselves are more of a problem. If you leave it be, it’ll leave you be. They don’t like humans. The worst they’re capable of is buzzing you in a coincidental fly-by.

Again if it’s the bug I’m familiar with, they’re your friend. Don’t kill it.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic I believe the crane fly is what you are thinking of. They differ in appearance compared to the insect in @NaturalMineralWater ‘s picture. Also, crane flys do not actually eat misquotes like some of their nick-names would have you believe. They feed off of nectar.

hmm.. well of course they didn’t really look harmful.. I was just curious about what they were.. they fly around exactly like skeeter eater mosquito hawks do.. just kinda… wandering and clumsy like TCH said.. hmmm curious.. what are these things

I did find this site. You could maybe send an email of the picture and find out. That’s the best I could come up with for finding a solution as of now. If you find out, you should let us know. Good luck. =)

I have used this site many times; and it’s cool to poke around there, too.

@Randy I didn’t know that. Thank you.

@bythebay We use that site a lot—they’ve even posted a couple of photos of mine there.

Another good site to ID bugs is BugGuide

And I think that looks like a crane fly too!

I agree that it is a crane fly; this is exactly the right time of year for them (I can see several from where I sit!)

They don’t eat mosquitoes, although various colloquial names refer to such a habit. They are harmless.