“Eeeew,” Alex yelled. “What are all these bugs? They’re landing in my hair and everywhere! I don’t want them to bite me. Let’s get out of here, Grandpa.”
“Don’t worry, Alex, they won’t bite. They’re mayflies. Fish find them tasty.”
“Are you joking, Grandpa? Maybe flying fish eat them. Really, how can fish chomp them in the sky?”
“Well, Alex, mayflies spend most of their life growing and hiding underwater. There is a bird called a dipper that walks along stream bottoms looking for them there.”
“A bird that walks underwater! That’s crazy. How do dipper birds catch these bugs?”
“Like the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm. Mayflies aren’t worms, but dippers catch mayflies before the insects grow wings. Do you remember how insects have several life stages? Mayflies start off as wingless nymphs. Dippers pluck them from under submerged rocks or catch them crawling around the bottom of streams.
Eventually mayflies grow wings, but their life out of the water is short. The winged adults only live a few hours, just long enough to lay eggs.
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