Most likely a fungus. There are fungi that trigger an insect to climb to a high(er) point before death, that way the spores have the potential to travel farther and infect more insects.
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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Ah interesting. It has been a very damp summer.
There other pathogens that will do things like this too, the insect world can be a horror show. 🫣
The flies are really bad this year so I say bring the horrors on.
Though they are feeding the local finch population quite well.