The day was perfect for gardening, a slightly overcast sky, pleasantly warm temps, and I was in my garden. There were seeds to be sown and weeds to pull. No problem. Gardening is an enjoyable pastime for me.
I’d slathered bug dope on every piece of exposed skin, and thinking I had the “bug” situation conquered, set about troweling and digging in the dirt, feeling glad to be alive, until a hoard of black flies descended. They crawled into my ears, burrowed into my socks, hung together in a cloud around my head. I’d been unable to find my bug hat with complete face-covering netting, and I paid the price.
The black fly, also known as gnat or buffalo gnat, is the scourge of the north woods. These tiny, black insects love to burro in hair, socks, ears, anywhere. According to the University of Minnesota Extension, they use blade-like mouthparts to slash skin and feast on blood. They are most active around sunset and sunrise, and they like calm days. They are attracted to dark colors like navy.
My first encounter with black flies occurred many years ago during one of my initial visits to the northland. My eye and surrounding area felt funny, so I gingerly touched it to find it swollen. I moved my fingers to my hairline and discovered a small insect feasting on my blood. I squished it and ended its evening meal.
The swelling lasted for several days and eventually disappeared, and I haven’t had as severe a reaction again, thank goodness.
Dealing with these pesky insects takes energy and ingenuity. My usual tactic is to cover every uncovered bit of skin with insect repellent. It works pretty well if I ignore the precautionary warnings about toxicity on the bottle labels.
My battery-operated bug zapper also helps, although black flies are so small, the nasty black critters often avoid zapping.
The black fly bite can be serious, especially when in number. In extreme circumstances, they can kill animals through blood loss.
A friend recently experienced just how dangerous black flies can be when she took her dog for a hike. The black flies were so numerous and the poor dog so severely bitten that my friend had difficulty getting the dog to her car. Here the dog collapsed and my friend had to carry her into the house where she gave her beloved pet Benadryl. Thankfully, the dog rallied, ate her next meal and was fine the next day.
Leave a Reply