Gee Wendy...I would look very closely at those bugs and maybe capture one and have it looked at. This time of year, near your house, it could be swarming termites, coming out of the house? :-( Sorry to be the bearer of possible bad news. I HOPE they are something else!!

thanks but they are definitely not termites. much smaller. and termite swarms come out of the ground and leave in about an hour. i've seen one. THese guys have been here for a couple of weeks.

Phew! Glad to hear it Wendy. Then I don't have any idea what it could be. I have seen one bug so far and ants checking out our doorway. No flying insects at all yet.

Wendy,
I have had the bugs you describe show up as early as March. This year I noted them once or twice in March and then again last Wed. or thurs. when it was a sunny, warm, wind free, day. I have noted them loftily hanging out in the same location each year. They hang around a sunny south facing area with Ilex, Cryptomeria, Hemerocallis, Peony, Erica near by. Do you see any commonalities? I have never been bothered by them but they are an early spring novelty.

I did manage to catch one and take a picture. It just looks like a mini black fly. It is just about 1/4" - 3/8" long. ANy googling I do on black fly finds biting ones. these guys don't bite, thank goodness. I wish I could learn how to take a sharp closeup... :-(

{{gwi:1066442}}

Mine are not limited to the sunny sides, but they do seem to not venture out more than 10-20' from the house. They are more visible in the sun. I think I get them in the fall too.

Wendy,
It is hard to tell but I have been flipping through Garden Insects of North America by Whitney Cranshaw and a very good contender might be one of many leafminers in particular Holly Leafminer "Overwinters as larva in the mine, pulpating in early spring. Adults are present for a period of about 6 weeks, and females insert eggs in the underside of newly developing leaves. The larvae feed in the leaf creating a gradually expanding mine that is blotch like at the end. Much of the mining occurs during late fall and winter. Usuallly leafminers associated with deciduous holly have several generations per year, whereas those associated with evergreen hollies have a single generation."
There seem to be as many different leafminers as there are plants so I was thinking you might begin your search by determining what plants they seem to be hovering around.

I've seen what may be the same type of insects for multiple springs, but I have no idea what they are. They're so small that I don't usually see them clearly unless they are backlit by the sun.

Fortunately, they don't seem to bite or sting at all - the insects that do that don't show up until May.

kt, good research. I will check out my ilex, but afaik they do not seem interested in plants at all. They really just hang around the house and hover. From head level to roof level. (well, maybe that's all I can see...)

Springa, do yours hang out around your house? all sides or is there sunny/shady preference? Sounds like the same bug.

The quantity of mine is just getting ridiculous. I almost have to clear a path to walk through sometimes.

They really just hang around the house and hover I suspect they might be doing a mating dance. Have you noticed them glowing with contentment?

I see them out by my compost area, behind/next to the garage.

They must be really important to the birds, since there are so few insects out and about at this time of year.

--Springa, do yours hang out around your house? all sides or is there sunny/shady preference? Sounds like the same bug.--

I can't tell if they really prefer one area, although they seem to be common right over the flower beds and near the stone wall at the back of the yard.

I believe they are called winter stoneflies. They come out in my area of New England just as the snow is thawing in Feb. and stay until around May.

Oh wow! This looks just like the bug I saw earlier this morning sitting inside my little plastic hothouse. It was not on the plant. I just thought it was a "baby fly". Now I'm wondering if this calls for yet another neem treatment.

They look to me like small flies of some kind, but not stoneflies which are different and have 2 hair-like tails.

There are a ton of different kinds of blackflies, and only a few of them bite (but since those are the ones that affect people, those are the ones that get written about.) If you have very clean water, they may well be blackflies, but if you have sediment or pollutants in the nearby streams and rivers, it won't be blackflies since they are not tolerant of anything but very clean, well-oxygenated water.

They are midges im pretty sure - always come out late march / april / may depending on weather - dont bite - just kinda swarmy for a bit and then disappear