Water boatmen are strong fliers and are attracted at night to artificial lights. They are quite clumsy out of water. People find the occasional stray water boatman in birdbaths and swimming pools, where the insect ends up after a night's flying excursion.

Can a water boatman fly?

This bubble of air allows the water boatmen to swim up and down throughout the water column. Water boatmen are also great at flying, so you may see them in the air creating swarms, especially during mating season in the spring and mid fall.

How do water boatmen travel?

Like other aquatic bugs, Lesser water boatmen need to breathe at the water' surface, but they have developed an ingenious trick to allow them to remain under water for longer: they hang upside-down, collecting air from the water's surface and then carry it around as a bubble on their body.