OMG Black flies!

[dagibbs]

I don't know if they're worse than the last few years (maybe the wet spring has made this so?), or I've just (blessedly) forgotten how bad they were. But they are just awful out there! The swarms are crazy-making. My ankles (and many other bits) itch!

obNFB: https://www.nfb.ca/film/blackfly/

Comments

[frith]

I think the black flies are transitioning to mosquitoes in my neck of the woods. With the abundant rains we received in the last month, the vampire fairies are getting a real boost. I'm spraying the llamas with insecticide, that has seemed to kill off most of the biting flies in the past.

[dagibbs]

I generally prefer mosquitos to black flies -- sadly we're still in full-on black fly season.

[sinisterdevices]

That film will never get old. And while it lives, so does my adamant refusal to visit Northern Canada in summer.

[dagibbs]

Black flies are mostly a spring issue -- they tend to disappear by mid to late June. Of course, that's when the mosquitoes start to get bad. Mid- to late-August is generally reasonable, and still summer.

[sinisterdevices]

I remember visiting Winnipeg in June. NEVER AGAIN.

[dagibbs]

Yep.

[talyen]

OMGosh there are things I've forgotten since I moved "south"! Sorry you've got it so bad right now, and thanks for the heads' up/warning.

[dagibbs]

They're not nearly so bad in urban/suburban environments -- but if you get out of the city...

[ironphoenix]

Hopefully the itching will fade soon. Do you wear netting?

[dagibbs]

I couldn't find my bug netting -- will need to buy another.

[diaspora]

Where was this?

Mosquitos have emerged recently in some of my favorite hiking spots (Shirley's Bay, South March) and are being unusually bad, considering it's still only May. I suspect the very wet spring did make a difference.

[dagibbs]

Yesterday I was on the Eardley escarpment in Gatineau park, on Monday I was at Calabogie cliff.

[diaspora]

I went up Eardley Escarpment on the 15th and 17th to view/photograph spring wildflowers...the black flies were definitely present, especially close to running water, but not biting much. Perhaps only recently emerged? I am now morbidly curious to go back and see what it's like now :-) Although I don't know if the part of the escarpment I was on (McCloskey and McDonald trails) would be as black-fly-rich as where you climb.

[dagibbs]

Yeah, I don't know on comparative black-fly locations, either.