They look like giant mosquitos.

But lucky for us, while they're a close cousin of the hated biting bug, crane flies do not share that most annoying trait.

"A crane fly is not a blood-feeder," said Dr. Andrine Shufran, an entomologist at Oklahoma State University.  "It is completely harmless."

Dr. Shufran says the reason that we're seeing so many crane flies in Tulsa is a combination of the drought and the heavy rains.

She said not just one, but two generations of crane fly larvae were trapped in the ground by the drought and then they were all unleashed at once by the heavy rains last week.

"So all the ones from last year, and all the ones that were growing this year were in the ground waiting for that perfect combination of rain and then sun."

Not only do they not bite, crane flies don't have mouths to feed on anything, which means they don't live long.

Dr. Shufran says they'll all die off in just a couple of weeks.