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It’s no secret that there are many bugs
in the Everglades.
It’s not a matter of IF, but one of HOW MANY there will be.
Among the most prevalent are Noseeums, also spelled No-see-ums and sometimes called Sand Fleas or Sand Flies. They are actually called biting midges to be specific, and look similar to very very tiny flies. There are in fact over 4,000 species of biting midges in the Ceratopogonidae family and they love the coastal salt marsh habitat of the Everglades! Despite their small size of only about a millimeter, they are well equipped to bite into skin and cause itching, irritation and rashes. They can make you do the crazy itch dance, whether you wanted to or not!
Presenting the
“NO-SEE-UM“
Phylum: ARTHROPODA
Class: HEXAPODA
Order: Diptera
Family: Ceratopogonidae
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Typical No-see-um (Ceratopogonidae family).
Image credit: (CSIRO) – license free use.
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I termed this story “Of Bugs and Men”, though they will bite anyone with equal opportunity. They do not discriminate, and to them we are all gender neutral. The only exception might be first time virgin campers of the Everglades which noseeums consider a delicacy! 😉
As with mosquitoes, only the females feed on the blood of vertebrates, which they need for their eggs to mature. They can also easily fly for a couple of miles and will be lured in by the CO2 that we all exhale. So unless there’s a strong breeze or you are on an offshore sandbar island, chances are you will encounter them.
They will find you or your tent!
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Getting a good night’s sleep in most parts of the Everglades requires a good tent with no-see-um netting.
ART of Darkness – Camping with the Stars!
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What a Mornin’
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It’s hard to sleep in while the sun is coming up. Clam shell 360 VR whole-tent panoramic.
CLICK for interactive panorama!
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The rising sun quickly warms up the tent even with the fly off.
Chickees and Keys in Florida Bay – Kayaking, Camping and Nice Dreams!
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The ‘good’ news is that they are really active in great numbers only at dusk and dawn. Depending on season and location, they become active as early as two hours before sunset and maybe another hour after. It’s the mornings though that are harder to bear in my experience. They can easily hang out a couple hours after sunrise, particularly if there is no wind. It gets hot in the Florida sun even if you don’t have the rain fly over your tent. It really heats up inside where it’s impossible to sleep and you become a prisoner in your own tent.
It then becomes a waiting game, to see who will leave first –
you or the bugs !?
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At first glance, nothing but blue skies in the morning.
Camping Hell in the Ten Thousand Islands!
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A closer look reveals the tiny dots on the netting, these are the noseeums waiting outside!
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Now it’s a waiting game – who will leave first, you or the noseeums?
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No-see-ums are very, very patient critters!
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Such was the case as you will see in these pictures. I had a lot of time to kill and decided to capture extreme macro close ups of the lil buggers. Because they are so small this took some effort, though I did not mind since there was plenty of time.
I bet most people have no idea what no-see-ums look like,
so here you go!
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It’s possible to fumigate them. Sometimes that helps! 😉
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If you flick the netting they will move around, but not leave.
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Getting up close, the tent noseeum proof netting and one specimen.
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“You keep on knocking, but you can’t come in!”
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Getting really close, a couple of noseeums look like they might even fit through the tent screening.
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Noseeums are like very tiny biting flies, silhouetted here in the morning light.
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Mind you some actually do make it through even the very fine noseeum proof screening,
but it’s only a few out of the thousands outside the tent!
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Actual noseeum biting into skin with it’s blood filled abdomen! 😮
Photo credit: Ed T. Schmidtmann, USDA/ARS, usage per terms listed.
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It’s only the fine mesh screening that separates skin and no-see-ums!!
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The best defense against noseeums remains the barrier method, i.e. clothing covering all exposed skin and fine mesh screens. Chemical sprays are largely ineffective in my experience, though there might be some new formulations out now. To be honest it’s so simple just to cover up that I would find little need for it. I like to use a breathable undershirt with a long sleeve cotton shirt over it. Nylon jogging pants work great and two layers of socks cover the legs. Sometimes I use gloves to cover the back of my hands. Also a must are two ‘face protectors’, one covers the neck – the other I wear ‘Babushka’ style to cover my ears and most of my face.
Another thing to keep in my is that one does develop a tolerance after a while, where noseeums become a relatively minor nuisance. Also even if bit up, my skin is not that sensitive anymore and the bites / rashes disappear after about 20 mins or so – like it never happened. But YMMV!
Smoke definitely does work also if you are near a campfire say. The Gladesmen, as well as native Americans used smoke for centuries to repel biting insects. They would carry something called a “smudge pot” with them, burning black mangrove or other wood to produce a thick smoke. Smoke inhalation was a fact of life!
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Bad, very very bad .. sunrise at Graveyard Creek with swarms of millions of no-see-ums!
The Lost Portage – connecting streams in the Everglades!
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When outside the tent, a bug shirt becomes very useful to essential, depending on location. It does get hot wearing it, so I mostly use it to deal with mosquitoes.
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I hope you’ve enjoyed this close up look at
what’s been itchin’ ya!
In the next chapter we shall look at mosquitoes. Whether there are actually more noseeums or mosquitoes is a really good question!
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Closeup of tent fabric which has a much finer weave still. Shown here with a blood smear from a deceased mosquito.
Of Bugs and Men, Chapter 2 – Skeeters!
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Continue on to:
Of Bugs and Men, Chapter 2 – Skeeters!
(* Coming soon! *)
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Bless UP – Can’t come in!
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© 2020 Flex Maslan / kayakfari.com / awakenthegrass.com . All original photographs, artworks and music in this portfolio are copyrighted and owned by the artist, Flex Maslan, unless otherwise noted. Any reproduction, modification, publication, transmission, transfer, or exploitation of any of the content, for personal or commercial use, whether in whole or in part, without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.
All rights reserved!
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The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
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With that said..
Blessings friends!
🙂
kayakfari ( kayak .. far .. i ) 