For most of us, black flies are one of the worst parts of summer. But as it turns out, they have some good qualities, too.
Hi. This is Iain MacLeod from New Hampshire Audubon, bringing you Something Wild.
Granite Staters need no description of black flies. We are all too familiar with these maddening, swarming insects. While we do embarrassing arm-flapping dances, don ridiculous clothing and slather on dubious potions in a futile attempt to avoid them, we wonder: what are black flies good for, anyway?
I had to dig, but they actually do have some redeeming qualities.
First, some helpful perspective: approximately 1500 species of black flies are known worldwide. Our Canadian neighbors have to contend with more than 110 species, so we should be grateful that we only have forty species in New Hampshire, and that only two of these consistently bite humans.
Things are really not so bad here, when you consider that massive outbreaks of one species of black fly have been known to kill livestock in Saskatchewan. Their deaths are being caused by blood loss and anaphylactic shock. Cattle have even been known to suffocate after inhaling large numbers of the little buggers. In contrast, our local swarms are just a nuisance.
Okay. So what are they good for?
For one thing, they're good indicators of clean water. Black flies need clean, running water for breeding, and cannot tolerate pollution. Since New Hampshire has lots of clean streams, we also have lots of black flies.
They are also important pollinators. While the females need blood meals to lay their eggs, the males dine only on plant nectar and sap. They get this food in part from our earliest spring wildflowers, pollinating as they go. Black flies may even be responsible for pollinating some of our blueberries.
Finally, black flies are a good source of food for other wildlife - bats, dragonflies, flycatchers and swallows are a few of the critters that eat black flies - so try to encourage these animals to live in your backyard, and then you can celebrate as the black flies become dinner themselves!
Something Wild is a joint production of New Hampshire Audubon, NHPR and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. For Something Wild, I'm Iain MacLeod.
