request for info - what are the flies that just hatched

[stvgarrett]

Specifically, what's the name of the small, sidewalk-loving, fortunately-non-biting flies that every spring form orifice-filling clouds  at ground level, much to the dismay of runners, bikers, walkers, and generally speaking anyone who doesn't remember to keep their mouth firmly closed while walking? I end up fishing 1 or 2 of them out of my eyes every time I go for a walk...

[stvgarrett]

yesterday when it was warm, there were literally clouds of these little guys out at Colonel Sam Smith, today with the cooler weather there were none at Humber Bay East.

[Greg Schneider]

I believe they are midges:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge

[stvgarrett]

Thanks! reading the wikipedia entry I'm going to hazard a guess that the ones that were clogging my tear ducts were
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chironomidae because I did notice the "plumose antennae" as mentioned in the article:

Many species superficially resemble mosquitoes but they lack the wing scales and elongate mouthparts of the Culicidae. This is a large group of insects with over 5000 described species and 700 species in North America alone. Males are easily recognized by their plumose antennae. Adults are sometimes known as "lake flies" in parts of Canada, as "sand flies", "muckleheads",[1] or "muffleheads"[2] in various regions of the USA Great Lakes area, and as "blind mosquitoes" or "chizzywinks" in Florida, USA

Adults can be pests when they emerge in large numbers. They can damage paint, brick, and other surfaces with their droppings. When large numbers of adults die they can build up into malodorous piles. They can provoke allergic reactions in sensitive individuals.

I just hope I never get to see (or smell) an infestation large enough to result in the malodorous piles of mufflehead corpses the writer describes.