They show up for about three weeks. They smell bad. They take the city hostage.

So I am out for beer the other night and while we are sitting upon the patio I start to smell this gross aroma in the air. Something a little fishy. I was informed by fellow drinkers that it is the smell of shadflies. They give me what they know, but I want more.....so I dig around the internet to see what I am instore for.




They almost seem cute!
They are about two centimeters long with two sets of wings, two long tails and a distinctly fishy smell, and for two weeks in late June and early July, they rule North Bay.
For most of the year, the shads, as they are sometimes called, live in the bottom of Lake Nipissing in nymph form. When the lake warms up, they emerge in huge numbers and transform into their flying adult stage.

"When they are in this stage they don't eat, says David Hackett, a biologist at Nipissing University. In fact, they don't have functional mouth parts. They are just flying sex machines. They fly around, meet each other and lay eggs, and after a day or two, they die."
Now flying sex machine sounds like an OK life to me....well except for the dying part after.....so I guess those few days you really go at it!!
Realistically though, I will be in the midst of a bug orgy.

Most readers at this point are thinking >> these don't seem so bad, they are not misquitos or black flies....and they don't bite. I say to you >> there is more!

They come in numbers and cover everything.





Keep in mind that these massive numbers you are seeing also die. Downtown streets echo with the crunching of dead shadflies underfoot, and car owners dig out their snow brushes to clean their vehicles. Where in hell did I move to? Seriously!


A link to help those who will not be able to make to this years sex fesival

http://www.cafepress.com/shadfly

A few quotes taken from a site dedicated to them

http://www.shadfly.com

"Roadways become hazardous as crawling masses of these night-flyers congregate underneath the brightest street lights forming a slippery film between tire and asphalt."
"The end of the 2-3 week shadfly emergence is found to be the most obnoxious. Insects which have been swept into heaps by city shopkeepers foul the city air as peak summer temperatures speed up the decomposition process. The lakes appeal is lost to prospective swimmers looking for relief from the heat as they are faced with the stench of shadfly corpses littering the shore."

Lucky for me I live downtown just 2 blocks from the beach.


Some might be now wondering what purpose these creatures have on earth. I certainly am. Apparently the insects are indicators of a good water quality. (small sarcastic YA)

Well I am very excited that the heat wave may have them emerge early this year....I sit and I wait and the anticipation builds. I will take my own photos of me and the dogs battling the the odds against nature.