Fish Fly Invasion – Richmond Road, Ottawa – June 30, 2013
I was driving down Richmond Road with my son and I just had to stop to look at the enormous number of fish flies that were filling the air and landing on everything. In the reflected light of the car’s headlights, it looked a lot like winter might be returning as each of the winged creatures looked like snow flakes fluttering the air.
Mayflies and shadflies and various other insects of a similar nature come in about 600 different species in North America with many, many more variants worldwide. Fish and baby birds love them so their timing is great if you happen to be a fish or a bird or several other creatures looking for a quick meal. Humans, on the other hand, don’t like them landing in their hair (won’t hurt – just inconvenient) and, of course, sweeping up the carcasses the next day can be a bit of a problem. Most of these insects only live for 24 hours or so once they reach the winged stage of their development. It has been many years since I have seen this many all at once.
Glad it wasn’t my job to clean off the cars at a few of the Richmond Road dealerships the next morning!
TECH:Â Photos above were taken with my son’s iPhone.
