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Here's the top line: http://likewaterforwater.blogspot.com/2009/06/bugs.html
I stole this photo from that old post. It gives you some idea.
The bottom line, though, is that sometime around late June the bugs go away, but they don't exactly stay away. They're sort of like a rose bush that blooms big in early summer and then pops up a few weaker blossoms every once in awhile throughout the season.
In comparison to the spring visitation, the new crop is piddling. But definitely here. They joined me in the car for the ride to work out this morning. I'm not particularly a fan of insects, but these little guys are so frail, so ephemerally Ephemeroptera, that I can't get all worked about them -- at least not in their current numbers.
I hear from my friends in the Heights that they came to town up there this week. Up there there's some signficant bug excitement. We have a saying here on the northern edge of the U.S. that we apply to that sort of bug flurry.
Actually it's more like a taunt than a saying.
And it's actually just me that taunts it.
It goes, "You think YOU got bugs? What you got is not bugs. Here's how you tell if you've got bugs: Have you eaten a bug today?"
If no. Then no.
Ann calls these Yankee bugs because of the 2007 Indians vs Yankees playoff game in which bugs descended on the Jake and bothered the Yankee pitcher.
ReplyDeleteHere are links to a few pictures:
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTrihMhbnt8lG_sH1nNHOUVlpvTXaFDMrbkqUGaG5aIlnumLow&t=1&usg=__dL8cV_KDbSaFrRF77-KnLSGXKAA=
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSU38ZUzpRQKT-1KNiy9GCUCJw96MpPXA7eP6fPADwLCgSjcL8&t=1&usg=__QhRckVu6Cc8NtYsRgagy4lajgWQ=
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcROHABfmEPEzhlD-ktr41HB1k4OkVCCFPRMD26WyKbug-gzG7k&t=1&usg=__aYK7rgjfMaXP2_kE9Xizt-0cDbM=
The Indians need more than bugs this year.
But wait till next year.
Bill
P.S. I hear from my friends that the bugs are big in Beachwood. They're learning. Soon, they too can eat some bugs.
ReplyDeleteOh, man. This has had a very happy outcome. There was even a diagram in the PD that showed how the combination of warmer than usual weather and fortunate (for me!) winds worked together to vector this crop of "midges"* right into the heart of Civilization. Bath, even. Shaker Heights, for sure. You can hear the whining sounds from here.
ReplyDelete* "Midges" my foot. They're Canadian Soldiers, is what. If you've ever eaten one you can' name them whatever you like.
Confirmed: Those midges - ephemeropterae (?) - Canadian soldier bugs were sighted last weekend in Shaker. Spent about an hour vacuuming them off of the ceiling, and just about every countertop and window sill of M's kitchen. They don't bite, attack, sting, -- just swarm, then drop and die. What lesson in life is to be learned from them, I don't really know.
ReplyDeleteI read in the PD that some kid up in the Heights did eat a midge bug. He said it tasted buttery. I'm sure it did.
ReplyDelete