Black Flies

This is an article fro two springs ago.
I still remember those little black guys!
Black Flies Earl Plato
I run my fingers over the back of my neck along my hairline. I have just returned from an early June week in Algonquin Park. The numerous swellings that itch on my neck are from bites of black flies. Plato, didn’t you use Off with deet? Yes, but apparently not enough applications in certain areas! May and June are the main months for this vicious little insect. What do you know about them? Any of you who have followed my articles over the years know that I have a love for Algonquin Park. Let me qualify that statement. For years I have visited the Park in the summer and Fall. I avoided Spring. However, this year in June we had the opportunity to spend some time in Algonquin. Why not? No, I didn’t forget those veracious insects.
Early June saw us alone on the trails. We had tried to protect ourselves
with ample applications of Deet. No other venturers at Spruce Bog Trail or Peck Lake Trail, two of the shorter Algonquin trails. Swarms of blackflies were there ready to make life miserable for us Niagarans. I had made a study of the life cycle of these flies some years ago while staying on the west side of the Park. I had hiked down Whiskey Run Trail and was told by a Park ranger to look for the following: Whiskey Run is a fast flowing stream on the edge of the great Park. Look for the multitudinous larvae of the Simultidae, the blackflies, attached to the rocks in the fast flowing stream. The white water of cascades provides the larvae with the extra oxygen they needed. What happenened next was that the larvae spin boot-shaped underwater cocoons, open at the downstream end. Look for the hundreds of cocoons on the water covered rocks of the rapids. These I saw but wait a few days for each cocoon forms a bubble of air. Then something I did not stay to see was that the cocoon of the blackfly splitting with each insect riding within a bubble. Each bubble shoots upwards through the tumbling water of Whiskey Run and pops to the surface amid the flying spray. The blackfly instantaneously lifts itself into the air on its tiny wings. Thus is born an adult blackfly. Hikers beware! Visit Algonquin but pick the best month to miss blackflies.
Writer’s Note: Park rangers give daily talks and walks during the summer season. Mushrooms, wild flowers, ferns, song birds and many more informative topics are available. It was a ranger who told me about blackflies. Never stop learning in nature.