(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- People along the lakefront have been complaining about swarms of tiny insects that some have mistaken for mosquitoes or mayflies. In reality, they’re midges, sometimes called lake flies.
Midges are a good thing, according to Allen Lawrance, an entomologist with the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.
They’re food for fish and migrating birds and an indication of warmer weather.
"What we're seeing is chironomid midges. I've noticed quite a few over the past couple days myself," she said.
"We can kind of think of them as a sign of spring now that it's warming up and they're emerging. Basically, they're kind of swarming, because they're mating. They're having a good time."
Midges resemble mosquitoes and they have a short life. The male dies soon after mating. The female dies after laying eggs, in soil or water, and the cycle repeats.
Lawrance also said as larvae they are aquatic insects living in water and wet soil.
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