Battle of the black flies
If you’ve spent any time outdoors in the Adirondacks in black fly season, you’ve likely seen someone doing—or probably even done yourself—the “Adirondack Wave.”
Recognized for its frantic, repetitive swatting at the air around a face and neck, maybe even erratically dancing around while doing it, the wave is just one of many attempts people make to keep these annoying insects at bay.
An annual spring rite of passage, the scourge of the black fly lasts roughly from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day. As the weather heats up, the flies die off. While black flies certainly don’t have a monopoly on making outdoor life in the Adirondacks miserable—raise your hand if you’ve suffered from a mosquito swarm or deer fly bite—these insects are uniquely annoying when they’re around. They swarm and have a killer’s instinct for biting. And, man, those bites can hurt.
Jimmy Cunningham, assistant professor and director of the Wilderness Recreation Leadership Program at North Country Community College, remembers one time when he was in the St. Regis Canoe Area as part
