Robber Fly

These are robber flies. Mating. She is on the right, he's on the left. I have been googling to find out exactly which robber fly they are and I think it might be this. I stumbled on this guy's website and -  hurrah! - he seems to be a Virginian! So let's call it this: Promachus rufipes

They are BIG. Like each one of them is well over an inch long. They can catch their prey in the air. They catch and eat grasshoppers. They're impressive. And they are our friends, to some extent. I mean, they eat pests as well as things we probably don't consider pests.