Have you seen little critters like this flying around your part of Capitol Hill?
Photo: Christopher Boffoli/Westseattleblog.com
They have been spotted spotted in West Seattle too, it turns out. I’ve been seeing them in the afternoon over the past week, kept meaning to write about them but never got around to it. But now that I know we’re part of a city-wide infestation, it is my duty to inform.
Any flyfisherpeople out there identify this little gnat? They’re blue and fuzzy and seem to hatch in the late afternoon sun. But that also might just be when I’m wandering the sidewalks, kicking fall leaves and daydreaming along in the sun looking for bugs, you know?
They’re all over the place in Redmond and Bellevue. I was commenting on it yesterday, but had no idea what they were. (Other than annoying as hell.)
Thanks!
I thought I was seeing things.
The gazillions I’ve seen hovering around the yard look like chironomids, a type of midge. Fly fishers call all the micro ones midges, and often the ones with fuzzy white butts are chironomids, a favorite fish food. That said, I just like to sound smart for the kids.
I noticed them on Tuesday evening while out running because they were stuck all over my shirt (one went up my nose too). I asked a few people the next day and no one knew what I was talking about. My brother sent this to me today, good to know I’m not alone in the world full of blue flies!
The ones I’ve seen don’t look like the chironomids I looked up on wikipedia. Chironomids have feathery white stuff on their heads, where the ones I am seeing have like a lightblue, white, feathery fringe along the back edge of their bodies. I could be wrong, but thats the info I could find.
me and my boyfriend have been seeing them too. they are everywhere and i didn’t see them last year, i would have remembered because i did landscaping all year long and i was always looking at the bugs in each of our client’s yards. one got caught in my sweatshirt yesterday and the blue stuff on it’s but came off on my sweatshirt (blue fuzz might be sticky?) and with it’s blue skirt gone it looked like an aphid. anyone have any ideas yet on what it is and whether it’s invasive?
sorry i meant to say it looked like a fruit fly with no fuzz not an aphid
I’ve been seeing these little buggers (hehe) in my yard during the fall, but only for about a month each year. This is the third year I’ve been trying to identify them.
I’m in the Adirondack park, Ny, up near the Canadian border, btw.
Everybody chill, they’re called Woolly Aphids.
here you go: http://seabrookeleckie.com/tag/woolly-aphid/