The weather is warm, almost summer like to Maine kids, and what these black fly immune children like most is mud. Ponds with squishy edges that guarantee their feet will get wet. Ponds filled with small animals just begging to be caught. Ponds like Haybale at Hidden Valley Nature Center where local fourth grade classes have been spending their May field trip exploring the macroinvertebrates that lay beneath the surface.
So of course Whitefield Elementary School Outing Club’s Wednesday hike didn’t make it past Haybale Pond. The kids were drawn to the muddy edges and there they stuck, unwilling to hike further. Pretty soon a few students had run to the barn to retrieve nets and buckets, and a full scale capture crusade was underway. Frogs of all sizes, giant pollywogs, tiny diving beetles, water scorpions, speedy leeches, and most impressive of all two enormous toe-biters were added to the collection basins.
Now normally I love brave kids, kids willing to hold all the slimy critters they find, but the toe-biters give me pause. These giant water bugs (Lethocerus americanus) are 2-4 inches long with strong front appendages used to capture their prey. Their partially retractable proboscis, much like a mosquito’s but far larger, is used to inject digestive toxins into their prey.
These flying, swimming giants typically grab tadpoles, small fish, insects and crustaceans to snack on, but they will happily “bite” any human who disturbs them. And when they do, an extremely painful toxin filled wound is inflicted.
For all of these reasons, toe-biters are best handled only with nets and observed in buckets before being released back into the pond so they can hunt tastier prey then the hands of children.
After an hour of watching the nine children catch and excitedly examine their finds, the parents were done with the black flies. The wet and muddy kids released their critters back into the pond and reluctantly returned the nets to their home, to be used by the next day’s school group. Interested in catching some of these incredible creatures yourself? Join us June!
(Midcoast Conservancy is an innovative conservation organization working to protect and restore vital lands and waters on a scale that matters. For more information, go to midcoastconservancy.org.)
