Long-legged fly!! It's a good bug, don't kill it!!! They love aphids and white flies. I love watching one run by with a white fly in its mouth.

Your pictures are a little blurry, but I'm still pretty positive that's what you have. Here's a picture of mine, check and see if it looks like yours:

{{gwi:52157}}

Bellatrix

Bellatrix

Thanks! Though I didn't see red eyes, you may be right. The two pepper plants out there have had aphids, which I've been spraying off with water, and as you know that never gets rid of all of them! And no, I never kill insects unless I know what they are and they're real pests.

I'm going to (gently) capture one when they return so I can get a closer look. Red eyes ought to cinch it! They're so small and do dart away if you get close that I had a hard time even getting them in the viewfinder.

This photo of the long-legged fly sure looks a lot like my first photo, doesn't it? But it wasn't so red in the sunlight -- it was the color of gold.

Wow...that's a cool lookin bug ya got there. :)

I don't think they always show the red eyes, if I remember correctly, it's something to do with the light refraction. They are usually metallic gold or green in body color. Mine are not out yet this year.

Getting a picture of them is almost impossible! I have about 100 pictures of leaves for the one picture I posted above.

Bellatrix

I also found golden flies on my not very healthy bushes, what are they