We’ve had a very wet summer so far here in the upper Midwest — the potholes are full of water, our backyard is sodden, the plants are thriving, but that also means that this plague is drifting in vast clouds everywhere.
The horror. The horror.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Aaarrrgh?
Clouds of the little fuckers. One of the advantages of living in a relatively dry place is that we get fewer of them, though we’ve had a wetting summer so far, so
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
One of the joys of warm wet weather spreading ever polewards. We’ve had an unusually warm autumn in southern Oz and the little buggers were a pest here too until last week. And I think I’ve caught a horrible moz-borne virus that hangs around for a few months or more, joy oh joy.
It’s the State Bird. Show a little respect.
The link identifies it as Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito–which sounds way worse than just mosquito–and hopefully not a problem in Minnesota. The other photos do look pretty amazing/horrifying though.
(I wonder, would it be ethical to spray down students with permethrin once a week in warmer weather?)
Sodden is too light a word for how wet it’s been here in ND. And mosquitoes? Aaaaargh, everywhere!
well, at least they don’t have tentacles…
Isn’t the mosquito the state bird in Minnesota?
No in point of fact, the state bird of Minnesota is the Common Loon. A piece of information which for safety’s sake, I will not comment upon in any way whatsoever.
I got fooled. What to me was the dark gaping hole of its spiracle is actually the bulging eyes of the emerging menace. I
After he took the photos, he killed it with fire right?
….right??
Is there an Uncommon Loon?
Note to PZ: Here in your original part of the world, we see very few of those. Too wet for them, I suppose.
someone rang?
aarrgghh #14
different spelling
I did get an attempted autocorrect to
Aaarraghh
which is rather funnny
Sure, just not very many of them.
You’re not kidding. We went backpacking last week with my mother up near Lake Superior and on the hike out I was holding my hiking sticks both in one hand so I had a free hand to brush the mosquitoes off my legs, and my arms, and my face. It was a continuous process: leg to other leg to arm to face to other arm etc. forever. When we got back to her house I took a look at my face and recoiled; there were sixteen or so bites in maybe four square inches above my left eye. I vaguely resembled The Thing. I had to take antihistamines so as to appear reasonably human in the planned family photos with the new niece and nephew (who are adorable, of course).
When you get out of or into the car at my mother’s house, you slam the door quickly to minimize mosquito ingress. Despite this I twice found them flying around the windows with evidence of having recently fed: abdomens full of blood. Even in One of the Largest Cities in Central Minnesota, you are not safe.