| Author |
Message Text |
|
tcoeguy
|
I have seen people post on here about "black flies" and I want to make sure I understand which insect is being referred to because I think I have it wrong in my head. I think black flies as it referred to mostly on here are what I grew up calling gnats. They are the tiny little flies, smaller than a mosquito, that attack your head and face if you are out in the wrong time of year. These can be even more annoying than mosquitoes as they seem to be in higher concentration at times. They cloud your vision. You look up and see hundreds of them within a foot of you.
But when I think of black flies, I think of those ankle biking bigger flies that like to attack when you are in the boat. Those to me are the most annoying. The ones that look like house flies that focus on your feet and ankles and their bite actually HURTS. And Deet does nothing for them. You can spray your ankles and they are unfazed. And they will hang around and fly around until you kill them. I was on East Bearskin early June this year and those big biting flies tormented me.
What are we calling the big biting flies? And is there a way to deter them? And is there a solution for the little black flies other than a head net?
|
|
Zulu
|
Link
I believe the ankle biters are known as Stable Flies and the swarming small biters are the Black Flies.
|
|
tcoeguy
|
That is helpful. I am surprised those stable flies aren't talked about more as a nuisance. Those things drive me crazy.
|
|
Jaywalker
|
tcoeguy: "That is helpful. I am surprised those stable flies aren't talked about more as a nuisance. Those things drive me crazy."
Stable flies were especially bad this year - worse than I can remember. I actually cut a trip short this summer from 10 days to 4 because of them. They just assaulted my dogs both in a campsite and especially out on the water.
|
|
mschi772
|
tcoeguy: "That is helpful. I am surprised those stable flies aren't talked about more as a nuisance. Those things drive me crazy."
I think some of it is that black flies have a very...defined pattern to their occurrence and a relatively predictable and sizeable impact on our experience at certain times whereas stable flies are a bit more unpredictable and rarely if ever amount to the same magnitude of nuisance that black flies regularly can. Fwiw, I feel like I saw an abnormal amount of stable fly discussion this year particularly lateish summer. I was in the BWCA in August and had virtually no issue with any insects including mosquitos, but I have had trips in the past where stable flies have made respectable attempts at being a noteworthy part of that trip's story.
I think another part of this is just that insect ID is hard for many. Various species can have many different common names, and it isn't uncommon for common names to overlap. I still regularly meet people who can't keep the difference between a deer fly and a horse fly straight, and those are very different species. I'm a biologist and studied a lot of taxonomy in school. That rabbit hole goes deep, and it isn't always as black and white as you might think either, but I digress.
|
|
mgraber
|
Yes, stable flies (ankle biters) have been bad the last two years and I'm not too sure which is more annoying when at their worse, I still have to say black flies, unless you wear a net, if you can cover your head then stable flies would be worse. Black flies always leave bloody scabs and knots on your head that take awhile to heal, it is hateful to have your scalp covered with those ravenous blood suckers. Look up a picture of their biting apparatus, YIKES!
|
|
nctry
|
Very rarely have I wore a head net. Every time was black flies. They just don’t take no for an answer!
|