This is the weirdest sight....hundreds of gulls at sunset
I'm sitting at my computer, and it's dusk. The air is writhing with fishflies. (Extreme yuckage!) I'm thrilled that I am in the house and all the windows are closed and locked. (Yes, locked. They may be extremely stupid, but on the off chance that one evolves and figures out how to open a window...I'm sticking with locked.) Suddenly, hundreds of seagulls have arrived (I have no idea from where...you usually see a few fly by in a day, but this is HUNDREDS) and they are flopping and flapping, zooming, and turning and EATING (no FEASTING) on the hateful fishflies. (I should point out that while I live along a river, it's not like fishflies and seagulls live here in droves normally.) Thank you seagulls! Keep up the good work. (I'd almost be freaked out by the number of birds zooming by my window, but hey...anyone who eats fishflies is a friend of mine. They've been coming so close I can hear their wings flap as they pass.) Also, this afternoon a fishfly bounced off my face (ewww) and landed in my hair. I screamed (I'm so mature) and flicked it to the ground. Evil puppy (also known as Hudson) jumped right over and ate him up. Score one for evil puppy as well. |
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| YUCK!
Side note.....um.....what is a Fishfly? I have never heard of them before. Are they common in just certain areas? |
| Sounds gross... I've never heard of them either. |
| would that be the same as black flies ? |
| I googled it. http://www.insectidentification.org/ins ... on=Fishfly
EWWW!!! |
| I have no idea how to post a picture. Sorry.
If you google "fishfly" you'll see several. Ours are the large ones with the long curly bodies. When they thrash they look like a fish that is out of water. When they are on you (or you need to move one from somewhere) they don't brush off. You pretty much have to grab them by their wings (which stick up and stand to the top). Then you get the flailing, fishlike movement as they whisk their bodies back and forth. They start off small, but they shed their skin over and over again. Their long bodies can be two to three inches long. I don't think they bite or anything, but they just love to land on you and then don't have the common sense to fly away when you swat at them. You have to pretty much pick them up. I used to see them from time to time at the beaches here in Manitoba, but never so many in the city...and they all appear to be IN MY YARD, which is nowhere near the beach. http://theoldbill.typepad.com/.shared/i ... ishfly.jpg I have no idea if that link will work. It's my first try. Imagine walking through a swarm of those...(If you can see them...) |
Ew, that is even grosser.  |
Fishflies are gross when they swarm... thousands of them land anywhere there is light at night, on cars and roads under streetlights, all over windows etc. Crunchy driving conditions  And they smell like dead fish when they die.
They don't bite, they don't actually have a mouth. They only feed as larvae, and most of their lives are spent in water until they hatch, then they only live for about 24 hours. |
traciels28 wrote: .........but on the off chance that one evolves and figures out how to open a window...I'm sticking with locked......
From what I read on the first site listed, I think locking your windows is a good idea! It says they are: "waiting to ensnare unsuspecting prey into their powerful jaws."
mouthypf |
| I have never heard of fishflies either!! I'm not too fond of gulls, rat with wings they are!!!! |
| Ah, we get them too (the ones in Tracie's link).
But not that many, but they do swarm. We call them may flies. |
| Ewwww We call those mayflies too. Only they are bright GREEN or also white. I hate the mayflies that we get here. YUK you cant go to a gas station or anywhere at night where there are bright lights. Thank goodness they only last about a month. |
| Where I grew up in Michigan we where not to far from Lake St Claire. (11 houses) Anyway, Fishflys also called June bugs would come out about mid to late June and cause all kinds of havoc with their ugly, smelly bodies. There would be so many that you had to be cautious driving over them, while they crackled your tires could slide...so kinda like driving on ice. They always said when the fishflys where plenty the lake was clean. They only last a few weeks, thank God...but are smelly when they come.
New Baltimore, Michigan celebrates the Fishfly each year with a Parade and a FishFly Festival in mid June. Now here in Florida to add to our wonderful collection of bugs, we have this most annoying bug that come out twice a year and it is called a Love Bug. The Love Bug was scientifically engineered to get rid of the masquitoes...DID NOT WORK. So now we have these lovelies to contend with and if they stay on your car to long they can ruin your paint. 
Anyway, enjoy your FishFly/June Bugs they will be gone soon. |
| Isn't that the same thing we called helgramites when
I was a kid? Great fishing bait anyway! Shellie |
Shellie wrote: Isn't that the same thing we called helgramites when
I was a kid? Great fishing bait anyway! Shellie I think they are talking about 2 different bugs at one site they look like the helgamites. The other site they look like mayflies. Helgamites dont swarm and the do bite. Mayflies on the other hand swarm in a great number and YUK. Go to the store or gas station and by the time you are done your car is covered. |
| I never even realized that fishflies weren't everywhere. Having grown up with them, I thought everyone had to suffer them! I'd never heard them called June bugs before, though.
violet wrote: New Baltimore, Michigan celebrates the Fishfly each year with a Parade and a FishFly Festival in mid June.
That's where I went to high school so thank goodness the fishflies don't come in until after school let out. I did, however, deliver pizza in that area for years and not only does it make driving conditions crunchy, it makes them slippery. It can be like driving on ice. Most of the businesses even keep their outdoor lights off in the evenings because you can't enter without getting them all over you. Don't leave your windows down either. Luckily they have a very short life span so they're only around for a couple of weeks. |
Here in Alabama we call them willow flies and they are really aggravating. We used to catch them and use them for fish bait, when they hatched you knew it was time to hit the lake.  |
| Elissa posted a link- if that is a fishfly- it's a
helgramite. Well actually a dobson fly- the larvae is a helgramite. I do remember seeing large numbers of these as a kid, but I haven't seen many in the last 10 years. The article says they are found in every state. Shellie |
 Whatever their name they are still gross. I am sooo not a bug person!! BLEH... makes me itch just thinking about it.
(Tho I grew up in Ohio... went to grandma's in Virginia each summer.... they called them June bugs also) |
 I hate BUGS |
| Here we have these hideous gigantic beetle like thingies we call June bugs. They sort of fly (some of them). Mostly they hop up in the air and flap around. Some are small (an inch or two) but some are as big as five or six inches. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. (And I don't actually hate bugs. I find them fascinating...but from a respectful distance please!) But these are yuck yuck yuck...and we also have a major mosquito AND canker worm year. Thank goodness for central air conditioning. It's not like I even want to leave the house right now.
I've always thought our "Junebugs" were really cockroaches (or some not so distant cousin) and that no one could actually bring themselves to admit that's what they were. Interesting how the names are the same but the bugs are so different depending on where you are. http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/w ... dorsal.jpg This is one of the pictures I found when I googled June bugs. It's close to what we have that we call June bugs...again, since I have no idea how to post a link I've no idea if this will work. Well, I'm off to check the locks on my windows. Just in case, of course... |
| We have the same thing as June bugs here too!
Yuck - I hate them. They are my #1 bug phobia. They are so big and land on you with those barbed pincers - they totally freak me out. .
And the crunch if you squish one!!! nasty. |
| hahahaa...i havent talked about fishflies in ages!!! we used to pull off their tails....also gather up their skeletons and toss them at each other...they smell really fishy!!
in highschool rocky and i would drive around in his trans am (he was mario andretti and i was jackie stewart) and slam on the brakes under lights (thats where they gather) and skid around.....nothing like that crackling noise to bring back good/sick memories.... thanks!  |
| Sicko!!! |
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