By the thousands they cling to walls, lamp posts and even a streetlight or two ..the shadflies are back in the North Bay area.
Known for an extremely short lifespan, fast mating and foul odour, shadflies come out of Lake Nipissing between late June and early July and invade the city for over a week. Observers say they swarm in droves because they are not skilled flyers and cannot escape predators.
Steve Dreany is with Tourism North Bay. "They are really actually good news, because it means that our lake is healthy, lake nipissing is healthy and they feed fish.” Says Dreany.
There are actually about three thousand different species of shadflies. They aren’t harmful but they can be a nuisance to some. Others in North Bay are cashing in on the shadfly obsession. Giant Tiger is selling shadfly shirts – which attracts tourists and locals. "We see our customers coming in wearing them so we know there's local people and there's a local printer that's making them for us." says store owner Sean Wilson.
Another local shop owner, Katie Beaven now has shadfly pins for sale and they’re flying off the shelves. "When we have them it's a rite of passage for summer here in North Bay... that's more of the inspiration behind them." says Beaven.
And many say just like Toronto’s famous C-N Tower, North Bay has its own tourist attraction, even if they are only a few centimetres long.
