I have lived in the south and
I have lived in the Arctic, but there is no place I have found that can compare
to bug season in rural Maine
Let me qualify: in the towns
and cities where lawns are kept mowed the bugs are a nuisance and a
distraction, but in the bush – the rural woods and lakes and streams - bug
season in Maine
Bugs come in cycles here in Maine
I looked up no-seeum on the
internet and found that every site I checked confused no-seeums with
midges. The only conclusion is that all
the experts that posted on no-seeums have never lived in rural Maine
No-seeums are flying venomous
creatures that are so small they can enter through a window screen. Most of the times you can’t see them: thus
the name of no-seeums. But if the light
is right they will look like a small bit of floating cigarette ash. You mainly know about them once you have
been bitten. They can leave a burning,
itching, inflamed knot about the size of a bisected golf ball that will remain
a torment for a couple of days.
I swear that if no-seeums
were the size of black flies there would be no human life in northern Maine
Here in northern Maine Maine
the Ol’Buzzard
My sympathies. Until recently I was living in rural Ontario where the bugs are bloody awful, this year worse than most. The mosquitoes were just unbelievable. Here in northern Alberta, there are no black flies... which, honestly, is a big part of why I moved here! Google "The Black Fly Song" and give it a listen. You'll appreciate it, I'm sure. Meanwhile, stay indoors and pray for fall.
ReplyDeleteHave heard the black fly song - love it.
DeleteO'B
We have all of the above. What you call midges I think are what we call sand flies. They are no-seeums larger cousins and swarm around you crawling into your eyes,ears and if you breathe with your mouth open, you get a bunch of fresh protein. Never have quite figured out what black flies are, sometimes I think they are our sand flies and other time it seems like they are what we call fish flies or stable flies. They look kinda like houseflies except they bite and take a chunk when they do!!
ReplyDeleteI have been out on the tundra in Alaska and you could follow my trail by the ribbon of mosquitoes coming out of the spongy earth I just walked over. I guess the worse place for bugs is the place I happen to be at the time.
DeleteHowever I recently saw two Maine mosquitoes carrying off a moose: one looked at the other and said 'we better not carry him back to the bog or the big ones will get him.
Years back when they still used horses for farm work a farmer had a green broke team that got away from him. After a day or so he tracked them into the swamp. The horses were completely eaten by the mosquitoes and the mosquitoes were pitching horseshoes for the harness!!
DeleteMother Nature has so many ways to fight back.
ReplyDeleteShe can be wicked.
DeleteO'B
We Yoopers will see your summer hordes of sanquinivores and raise you mosquitoes that thrive in ice water. We've seen mosquitoes in the snow here in the U.P. We've got all the summer blood suckers and some cold weather varieties. Can you Mainiacs claim the same?
ReplyDeleteWe don't have snow mosquitoes: you have us beat.
Deletethe Ol'Buzzard