Bugs and other little critters

[Marty Van Diest]

If you have a large lawn close to your house with very little brush and grass you won't have too many mosquitos.

But if you are like my place where there are a lot trees and high grass in the woods faily close to the house, there will be skeeters.

I have a mosquito magnet and during the worst times I have to change the bag every day or two. It's crammed with the little bugs.

I think I might cut down all the trees on my lot and plant a big lawn just to get rid of the bugs.

[RayinAK]

In some areas of Alaska, the mosquitoes are so bad that caribou run into the water trying to get away. I am talking about thousands of mosquitos on a caribou's nose, making it very difficult for it to breath. But like others said, it's not that bad in the cities, unless one lives near water. There should be enough of them Around palmer, but not like caribou country.

I remember years ago when traveling on the Parks with my two sons. We pulled off the road to take a break and have lunch, not too far from Denali. There was a beautiful creek in the parking area, and I parked next to it. As soon as I opened my truck's doors, a bunch of these huge black flies swarmed over our heads. It didn't matter what I used to repel these things, nothing worked. We had to get back in the truck and drive away. The flies I am talking about sit on you, and sting (or bite?) like there is no tomorrow.

I friend of mine got bitten by one near his elbow; a few days later he had a huge bump, and could hardly stretch his arm. He had to go to the hospital. I have no idea of what these flies are, but they are real nasty.

If you fish the Gulkana, you will encounter lots of mosquitoes, but these are nothing when compared to gnats and some small-size black flies.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

In some areas of Alaska, the mosquitoes are so bad that caribou run into the water trying to get away. I am talking about thousands of mosquitos on a caribou's nose, making it very difficult for it to breath. But like others said, it's not that bad in the cities, unless one lives near water. There should be enough of them Around palmer, but not like caribou country.

I remember years ago when traveling on the Parks with my two sons. We pulled off the road to take a break and have lunch, not too far from Denali. There was a beautiful creek in the parking area, and I parked next to it. As soon as I opened my truck's doors, a bunch of these huge black flies swarmed over our heads. It didn't matter what I used to repel these things, nothing worked. We had to get back in the truck and drive away. The flies I am talking about sit on you, and sting (or bite?) like there is no tomorrow.

I friend of mine got bitten by one near his elbow; a few days later he had a huge bump, and could hardly stretch his arm. He had to go to the hospital. I have no idea of what these flies are, but they are real nasty.

If you fish the Gulkana, you will encounter lots of mosquitoes, but these are nothing when compared to gnats and some small-size black flies.

They are Black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae).

Of the 70 species of black flies identified from Alaska, and the Yukon Territory, 36 percent feed on birds, 39 percent feed on mammals, and 25 percent feed on other insects (including themselves).

Black flies are pool feeders that penetrate the skin and produce small craterous lesions using a slashing or biting action involving the stylets and labium. Black fly saliva containing anticoagulants, enzymes and histamine, is mixed with the blood preventing clotting until it is ingested by the fly. Black fly bites cause localized tissue damage and if the number of feeding flies is sufficient, they may produce a blood-loss anemia. In addition, the host’s reaction to fly attacks may include systemic illness, allergic reactions or even death; these reactions presumably mediated by histamine. Harwood and James (1979) refer to a systemic reaction to black fly bites in humans known as “black fly fever” characterized by headaches, fever, nausea, adenitis, generalized dermatitis, and allergic asthma.

[RayinAK]

Thanks for the information. I do know that they inflict a very painful bite, and that the ones near Denali are the largest ones i have ever seen anywhere. The ones near the Gulkana are much smaller, but still quite pesky.

I forgot to mention that there are a lot of "no-seeums" in the North Pole area during July or so.

[mal_flisk]

My partner lives in Wasilla and has a garage and yard located separate from and below the house. I went into his garage and thought I was hallucinating because the wall appeared to be moving. WRONG. Mosquitos, thousands of them, and they all seemed to notice me at the same time. I must have killed a couple of hundred in a scene vaguely reminiscent of Hitchcock's "The Birds". Me flailing and running, the mosquitos scenting blood in the offing.

I'm glad no one had a video cam of that morning. I screamed like a girl and lost my coffee cup. I have never again entered that garage in summer, and have definite fears concerning vampires in the dark of winter.

Yeah, macho guys, I ran. Go ahead, yuk it up.

[karibear]

One of the books I read on the early homesteaders in Mat Valley said the skeeters were so thick they could kill a naked man in 3 1/2 hours from sheer blood loss. On the other hand, anyone dumb enough to take his clothing off in skeeter season deserves to be removed from the gene pool. On Kodiak, we had a lot of skeeters and deer flies and worst of all, no-see-ums. Now, those could drive a person crazy! I had a friend there who planted tansy as a bug repellant, a lot of it, around the house and around his yard, and he swore it worked. It didn't keep them all away, but he had a lot less than his neighbors.

[Glitch]

Flame-throwers work great at keeping the mosquitoes down to a minimum, but they are a little rough on buildings.

[ASpilot2be]

Awww.....mosquitoes

I think they are really bad around airports. I would have to stop doing touch and goes because the mosquitoes covered the windscreen The leading edge of the wing, and the strut were no longer white after an hour of touch and goes