Black Fly Season

After a long wet spring on coastal Maine - Mid-May to Mid-June is host to a bumper crop of Black Flies. If you thought mosquitos were bad, you haven't experience Black Flies. Black Flies are tiny flys that bite. They can leave you marked with little blood splots. They don't use a needle like nose like mosquitos to get your blood rather they simply take a bite out of you. Plus they have the annoying habit of swarming around your head. Plus if that were not enough they come out in the daytime!

They seem to be attracted to sweat so as soon as you start to do a little gardening they attact. Black Flies seem to have a keen sense that tells them when you have your hands full so you can't swat at them. They also don't make any buzzing sounds, unlike mosquitos, so you can't hear them coming. A familiar site around the island during the black fly season is a father and son playing catch wearing head nets!

The good news is the Black Fly season does have an end. When hotter days arrive the Black Flies die. Usually its only about four weeks of torture. Unlike mosquitos which go through cycles of various varieties (freshwater, saltwater etc). Plus downtown Bar Harbor doesn't seem to get the flies. Probably because it is drier, has less trees around and gets a nice breeze off the ocean.