I was pleasantly surprised to find this young lady (making a presumption on the sex of the bug folks – hint: I do not observe any claspers on this fly) perched on our door a couple of mornings ago. What do you folks think? Could this possibly be a Yellow Drake (Ephemera varia)?
According to a post over on “Project Noah” (a website where they state: “wildlife photography meets citizen science”) this fly may be a Yellow Drake in my opinion.
Like I’ve stated previously, I saw this specimen perched outside our door two morning’s ago. It’s rained since then – imagine that – and the creek has risen… again! Pine’s pretty muddy as of this writing. Back to the bug! I’m pretty certain this is not what I think I saw this past spring – the Macaffertium terminatium terminatium.
Ok, they both have speckled (mottled) legs. But I think the similarities pretty much stop there unless you say they’re both yellow (well, if I was splitting hairs – the terminatium is light yellow and the proposed yellow drake is more of an amber in my opinion).
The Ephemera (Yellow Drake) has only a leading edge of it’s forewing that has the appearance of darkened veins – or at the very least they are more prominent on the leading edge of the forewing. The Macaffertium has at least somewhat blurred veins throughout its entire wing. The Yellow Drake may hatch during this time of year, the terminatium only hatches through end of May – maybe early June. (note: the only non-latin name I’ve been able to find for the terminatium so far has been the ‘fat head’ fly! Not trying to give this fly any inferiority complex, I like to refer to it as the ‘yellow fly’ or ‘yeller fly’ – but this is just MY nick-naming).
So while at first glance my visitor from this morning may seem like the terminatum, I do not think it is now. When set side-by-side, the new visitor certainly appears more orange in color in it’s abdominal region than the Macaffertium (as seen above). Either this is the result of being a hatch that happens later in the year, or, maybe it’s an inherent characteristic of the bug itself – I do not know.
So could a Yellow Drake be showing up here in mid-August? What do you fly fisher’s think out there?
Now (as of 5:15 pm on the 18th) the big creek has risen (again) and it’s muddy (again) but before it rose, I saw this perched on the outside of our place on Pine Creek. If this hatch can last long enough for the water/s to cool down a little (and clear up), maybe it could be significant enough to tie something like this up?
So could this be a Yellow Drake of Pine Creek? Please drop us a comment and let us know what you think.
Als0 a quick reminder, September 7, 2024 , Brown Township Fire Hall – SRS last Regular Membership Meeting for 2024 – 10:30AM – you MUST RSVP (text) to Harry (570-884-4439) by August 31, 2024 in order to have enough food on hand.
And, until we see each other again, I’m UB, and unintentional blogger!
Slate Run Sportsmen 
My first thought was indeed a “yellow drake” but then I recalled or at least think/thought all drakes have three tails. I’d lean toward a Hexagenia (aka Hex) for the ID, but am a fly fisher not an entomologist, so please take my comment with a huge handful of salt.
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First of all thanks for reaching back to us and commenting! I am pretty familiar with a Hex and I even had one here a couple of weeks ago. If I can find the pic I took, I’m not sure if I can post it in a reply to a comment but I’ll look into it (made a new post to share the pic). I took it’s picture here a week or so ago (of a different fly that was ID’d as a Hex) and damned if the ‘AI’ sort of stuff on the phone kicked in and it suggested it was a Hexigenia limbata. And looking at the picture suggested – it was! So I don’t think this is a hex – but like I said, thanks so much for the comment! The Hex I took a pic of was much bigger in size then this yellow drake (I think yellow drake). Thanks again! UB
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