Mean and green

These winged menaces are out for blood -- yours

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

BY PETER GENOVESE

Star-Ledger Staff

The Jersey Shore's worst menace is a carnivorous, cannibalistic terror whose painful, bloodsucking bite makes your average mosquito seem like a winged wimp by comparison.

"You're out on your boat on the bay, they come for miles to attack you!" said David Kern, awe and alarm in his voice.

He is talking about Tabanus Americanus forester, the pesky, pitbull-like greenhead fly. To know it is to hate it. Public enemy number one for beachgoers and boaters, scourge of the Jersey Shore (especially from Long Beach Island south), the female greenhead is capable of flying 30-plus miles in search of a meal -- you.

Forget about swatting it before it bites: The greenhead, a salt marsh horsefly, is quick, lethal and aggressive, the F-15 of aerial insects. Frank Carle, curator of the Rutgers University Insect Collection, believes the greenhead provides the "most painful" of all insect bites.

"Greenheads have paired mouth parts that bite you," explained Carle, a professor in the university's entomology department. "They alternately jab those mouth parts into whatever they're biting. It's like a stabbing device that moves laterally. They macerate the area real well, get the blood flowing, suck it up. It's kind of cool!"

Not if you're on the receiving end, it isn't.

Swat or spray all you want; the greenhead's size (generally 7/8 inch to 1 1/8 inches) makes it a tough out.

"They are incredibly difficult to kill," said Frank Kern, a Brigantine dermatologist and David Kern's father. "You swat them, they fall down. It's almost like they have a concussion; 30 seconds later they fly away."

Greenheads are most common in July and August; they are at their worst on warm, windless days.

"Any day the wind is not blowing above 50 miles an hour from the ocean side, which is rare, you can expect to lose more blood getting a suntan than by donating it to the Red Cross," David Kern said.

Kern, the 35-year-old owner of DAK Pharmaceuticals, a skin care products firm, should know. He has summered at Brigantine since he was a kid. Greenheads got so much under his skin -- literally -- that he developed Greenhead, a DEET-laced spray. In Kern's ideal world, all flies -- greenheads, horseflies, deer flies and so on -- would stop biting.

Passion? Call it an obsession. Kern's Web sites, all for the spray, include www.green-head.com, www.stopbitingme.com, and www.flyingpiranha.com.

"I used to windsurf when I was in my 20s," he recalled. "They would bite right through the thick rubber wetsuit. If you were a windsurfer, there was no defense."

The Brigantine Rowing Club may hate greenheads even more than Kern. The club's Web site (www.brigantinerowingclub.com) says greenheads generally run about an inch long, except in Brigantine, "where they range from 3" to 10 3/4" long."

"The younger, less experienced flies attack body parts that the sculler can swat while only losing a single stroke," the Web site continues. "The wiser flies will dive for the softer, fleshier parts of the sculler's posterior. On occasion, an especially sadistic, elite squadron will attack a single or double with such precision and ferocity that the scullers will be swatting and screaming long after the boat has flipped and settled to the bottom."

Toughest obstacle at the ShopRite LPGA Classic at the Seaview Marriott Resort golf course in Galloway Township last summer? One guess.

"If I could get through 18 holes without getting bitten by those bugs, I'd be happy," golfer Denise Killeen said at the time.

"They're just little devils with wings," added Cristie Kerr.

"I have friends from New York who will not visit me because of the greenheads," Kern laments.

Who loves the greenhead? Tuckerton Seaport, that's who. This Saturday, the seaport hosts its fourth annual Greenhead Fly Festival, which will include children's entertainment and games, build-your-own flytrap demonstrations, crafts, food, guided tours, and both a pie-eating contest and biggest-greenhead contest.

"It's a tongue-in-cheek, fun jab," said Karen DeRosa, the seaport's special events director, using perhaps an unfortunate choice of words.

"Everyone who has lived or worked at or visited the Jersey Shore has had experience with a greenhead."

The biggest greenhead entered in the contest to date was about an inch long. "It doesn't have to be alive," DeRosa said. "Dead is probably better."

When greenheads attack

"Attack of the Greenheads" may sound like a '50s science fiction movie, but it's actually a children's book. Its author is Carmen Wyckoff of Lambertville, who turned a real-life encounter with greenheads into the book.

"Let's go," said Grandma, and tried to open the door but she couldn't! Dusty tried to help her but it wouldn't budge! They were TRAPPED! And there they were, thousands of greenheads pressed tight against the door, holding it shut tight.

HELP! HELP! they called out.

In Wyckoff's book, Grandma's daughter, Elise, keeps the greenheads at bay with her trusty Skin-So-Soft. Kern, Mr. Stop-Biting-Me himself, says the lotion and most other remedies just don't work. He tried electronic zappers, citronella candles and commercially available sprays as he waged a one-man war against greenheads at his parents' house in Brigantine. Nothing worked.

Eventually, he came up with Greenhead, which has a higher percentage of DEET (30 percent) than many other sprays. The extra dose of DEET also makes Greenhead more expensive; the suggested retail price is $9.95.

Most of his sales have been along the East Coast. But some orders have come from far afield. Two years ago, the commander of a U.S. Army engineering regiment in Kuwait called Kern in the middle of the night and ordered 497 bottles of Greenhead, charging them to her personal credit card. The problem was not greenheads, though, but sand fleas.

"It pretty much works for any biting insect," Kern said.

Greenheads are more commonplace than bennies on LBI, and Holgate, on the island's southern end, is one community fighting back. How serious is the threat? The Holgate Taxpayers Association has a greenhead committee; Holgate has put up 50-60 greenhead fly boxes. Rob Nehring, vice president of the taxpayers association, credits the boxes, plus two deep winter freezes, for a less-severe-than-usual greenhead summer, at least in Holgate.

A number of LBI residents use homemade greenhead remedies, like a spray composed of Listerine and water.

"Some people swear by it," Nehring said, laughing.

You can't win the war against greenheads, but that doesn't mean you have to spend the rest of the summer inside, whimpering in fear. There are common-sense steps to take, according to Kern.

"They like sweet-smelling products," he said. "Don't wear cologne or perfume, hair spray."

Or you can just wait until it gets colder. Greenheads winter not in Florida, like sensible people or bugs, but in the mud, as larvae. Where they lie in wait until the following summer, for the next batch of humans.

The Greenhead Fly Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Tuckerton Seaport, Route 9, Tuckerton. Events also include the Swat n Paddle Kayak Race and an American Red Cross-sponsored blood drive. For more information, see www.tuckertonseaport.org.



Mean and green These winged menaces are out for blood -- yours Wednesday, August 03, 2005 BY PETER GENOVESE Star-Ledger Staff The Jersey Shore's worst menace is a carnivorous, cannibalistic terror whose painful, bloodsucking bite makes your average mosquito seem like a winged wimp by comparison. "You're out on your boat on the bay, they come for miles to attack you!" said David Kern, awe and alarm in his voice. He is talking about Tabanus Americanus forester, the pesky, pitbull-like greenhead fly. To know it is to hate it. Public enemy number one for beachgoers and boaters, scourge of the Jersey Shore (especially from Long Beach Island south), the female greenhead is capable of flying 30-plus miles in search of a meal -- you. Forget about swatting it before it bites: The greenhead, a salt marsh horsefly, is quick, lethal and aggressive, the F-15 of aerial insects. Frank Carle, curator of the Rutgers University Insect Collection, believes the greenhead provides the "most painful" of all insect bites. "Greenheads have paired mouth parts that bite you," explained Carle, a professor in the university's entomology department. "They alternately jab those mouth parts into whatever they're biting. It's like a stabbing device that moves laterally. They macerate the area real well, get the blood flowing, suck it up. It's kind of cool!" Not if you're on the receiving end, it isn't. Swat or spray all you want; the greenhead's size (generally 7/8 inch to 1 1/8 inches) makes it a tough out. "They are incredibly difficult to kill," said Frank Kern, a Brigantine dermatologist and David Kern's father. "You swat them, they fall down. It's almost like they have a concussion; 30 seconds later they fly away." Greenheads are most common in July and August; they are at their worst on warm, windless days. "Any day the wind is not blowing above 50 miles an hour from the ocean side, which is rare, you can expect to lose more blood getting a suntan than by donating it to the Red Cross," David Kern said. Kern, the 35-year-old owner of DAK Pharmaceuticals, a skin care products firm, should know. He has summered at Brigantine since he was a kid. Greenheads got so much under his skin -- literally -- that he developed Greenhead, a DEET-laced spray. In Kern's ideal world, all flies -- greenheads, horseflies, deer flies and so on -- would stop biting. Passion? Call it an obsession. Kern's Web sites, all for the spray, include www.green-head.com, www.stopbitingme.com, and www.flyingpiranha.com. "I used to windsurf when I was in my 20s," he recalled. "They would bite right through the thick rubber wetsuit. If you were a windsurfer, there was no defense." The Brigantine Rowing Club may hate greenheads even more than Kern. The club's Web site (www.brigantinerowingclub.com) says greenheads generally run about an inch long, except in Brigantine, "where they range from 3" to 10 3/4" long." "The younger, less experienced flies attack body parts that the sculler can swat while only losing a single stroke," the Web site continues. "The wiser flies will dive for the softer, fleshier parts of the sculler's posterior. On occasion, an especially sadistic, elite squadron will attack a single or double with such precision and ferocity that the scullers will be swatting and screaming long after the boat has flipped and settled to the bottom." Toughest obstacle at the ShopRite LPGA Classic at the Seaview Marriott Resort golf course in Galloway Township last summer? One guess. "If I could get through 18 holes without getting bitten by those bugs, I'd be happy," golfer Denise Killeen said at the time. "They're just little devils with wings," added Cristie Kerr. "I have friends from New York who will not visit me because of the greenheads," Kern laments. Who loves the greenhead? Tuckerton Seaport, that's who. This Saturday, the seaport hosts its fourth annual Greenhead Fly Festival, which will include children's entertainment and games, build-your-own flytrap demonstrations, crafts, food, guided tours, and both a pie-eating contest and biggest-greenhead contest. "It's a tongue-in-cheek, fun jab," said Karen DeRosa, the seaport's special events director, using perhaps an unfortunate choice of words. "Everyone who has lived or worked at or visited the Jersey Shore has had experience with a greenhead." The biggest greenhead entered in the contest to date was about an inch long. "It doesn't have to be alive," DeRosa said. "Dead is probably better." When greenheads attack "Attack of the Greenheads" may sound like a '50s science fiction movie, but it's actually a children's book. Its author is Carmen Wyckoff of Lambertville, who turned a real-life encounter with greenheads into the book. "Let's go," said Grandma, and tried to open the door but she couldn't! Dusty tried to help her but it wouldn't budge! They were TRAPPED! And there they were, thousands of greenheads pressed tight against the door, holding it shut tight. HELP! HELP! they called out. In Wyckoff's book, Grandma's daughter, Elise, keeps the greenheads at bay with her trusty Skin-So-Soft. Kern, Mr. Stop-Biting-Me himself, says the lotion and most other remedies just don't work. He tried electronic zappers, citronella candles and commercially available sprays as he waged a one-man war against greenheads at his parents' house in Brigantine. Nothing worked. Eventually, he came up with Greenhead, which has a higher percentage of DEET (30 percent) than many other sprays. The extra dose of DEET also makes Greenhead more expensive; the suggested retail price is $9.95. Most of his sales have been along the East Coast. But some orders have come from far afield. Two years ago, the commander of a U.S. Army engineering regiment in Kuwait called Kern in the middle of the night and ordered 497 bottles of Greenhead, charging them to her personal credit card. The problem was not greenheads, though, but sand fleas. "It pretty much works for any biting insect," Kern said. Greenheads are more commonplace than bennies on LBI, and Holgate, on the island's southern end, is one community fighting back. How serious is the threat? The Holgate Taxpayers Association has a greenhead committee; Holgate has put up 50-60 greenhead fly boxes. Rob Nehring, vice president of the taxpayers association, credits the boxes, plus two deep winter freezes, for a less-severe-than-usual greenhead summer, at least in Holgate. A number of LBI residents use homemade greenhead remedies, like a spray composed of Listerine and water. "Some people swear by it," Nehring said, laughing. You can't win the war against greenheads, but that doesn't mean you have to spend the rest of the summer inside, whimpering in fear. There are common-sense steps to take, according to Kern. "They like sweet-smelling products," he said. "Don't wear cologne or perfume, hair spray." Or you can just wait until it gets colder. Greenheads winter not in Florida, like sensible people or bugs, but in the mud, as larvae. Where they lie in wait until the following summer, for the next batch of humans. The Greenhead Fly Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Tuckerton Seaport, Route 9, Tuckerton. Events also include the Swat n Paddle Kayak Race and an American Red Cross-sponsored blood drive. For more information, see www.tuckertonseaport.org. © 2005 The Star Ledger © 2005 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.