Learning to Love Blackflys?
By Dave Anderson

Lilacs are blooming, birds are singing and millions of blackflys are hatching from rain-swollen brooks. In fields and woods, ticks are poised to hitch a ride from any passing warm-blooded meal ticket. Just as warm weather allows us to finally venture outside, we’re attacked by legions of blood-sucking bugs.

Blackflys indicate excellent water quality. They thrive in rural, hilly locales with ample clean running water: cold brooks, creeks and rivers. While mosquitoes, deer flies and horse flies tolerate warm, ponds and wetlands including brackish, tidal marsh habitats, blackflies require cold, oxygen-rich water to nourish eggs and larvae that live underwater for a year before getting their wings.

Insect protein is the broad base of the food pyramid. Fish, frogs, snakes and turtles, songbirds, bats and large mammals are all dependent on the rich and diverse statewide insect populations. Insects are the primary reason why millions of colorful, neotropical songbirds hazard the long migration back to northern latitudes to breed and raise young.

Male blackflys help pollinate early spring wildflowers which bloom in full sun before trees leaf-out. Females blackflys swarm from wet leaf litter to employ Kamikaze tactics. While many die, enough succeed in slicing-off a tiny cube of flesh to nourish eggs of the next generation. The swollen moonscape of hairline welts is a seasonal rite of passage and a contribution to New Hampshire’s wildlife.

Blackflies remind us that Earth was not created solely for our personal benefit and enjoyment. We live within the local food chain, part of a larger ecosystem where something more ancient than our desire for comfort is at work. The best advice may be to learn to love them for their own sake… Oww!… as difficult as that might be!