Minnesota State Bird

It's a long-standing joke that the mosquito is Minnesota's state bird. During our boys' trip, we found out why. The first day on the water was relatively quiet and peaceful. But on the second day, we saw -- rather, heard -- something none of us had ever experienced.

Just before dusk, when nature's daytime creatures are finding a place to hole up for the night, but before the nocturnal animals come out to play, I detected a high-pitched sound... not quite a buzz, not quite a whine, but something in between. At first it was barely audible, and I couldn't quite pinpoint the source of the noise. As the sun continued its decent, however, the sound grew louder, and I could tell that the source was right at the shoreline. This is about the time that Darin noticed the noise as well, and that was when I saw the it... a mammoth swarm of mosquitoes, dancing around the shoreline. Figuring that they saw us as ripe victims, we collectively shuddered a bit and retired to our tents. Greg and Bill were already asleep. The next day, I experienced the same thing, and pointed out the swarm to Greg and Bill. Again, we all retired to our tents for the evening.

The third day, when we were at a different site, we once again heard the now-familiar sound of the mosquito swarm. It was the loudest evening yet, and we could see the cloud of bugs completely surrounding us. This time, however, it was a clear, warm evening, and we had a nice camp fire, so we decided to brave the swarm and stay outside. By the way, if you'd like an idea of what the swarm sounded like, picture the bug scene in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. It was LOUD!

None of us rushed to apply bug spray. I guess we were morbidly curious how they would react... would we be eaten alive, or left alone? Miraculously, they didn't bother us much. I guess the fire was enough to scare them off. Either that, or they were scared of all of the dragonflies and bats trying to eat THEM.