I didn't need to read that.
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They are a vector for river blindness, which is a disease that you can transmit, but that's not something that we see here.
Very reassuring
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Apparently they're Simulium vittatum.
Residents in the San Gabriel Valley (SGV), to the east of Los Angeles, are battling unusually high numbers of black flies, also known as Simulium vittatum.
https://www.glamosquito.org/black-flies
Control Agents Used to Combat Black Flies
Black fly management is accomplished by applying a natural soil bacteria called Bti to water sources where black flies breed. Bti stands for Bacillus thuringiensis israeliensis. Bti is a special formulation of common soil bacteria that is highly effective in controlling black flies and mosquitoes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_thuringiensis_israelensis
Bacillus thuringiensis serotype israelensis (Bti) is a group of bacteria used as biological control agents for larvae stages of certain dipterans. Bti, along with other B. thuringiensis products, produces toxins lethal to various species of mosquitoes, fungus gnats, and blackflies but which have negligible effects on other organisms.
What a terrible day to have eyes and be able to read
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Weird that it rhymes. I hope there aren’t any tiny black flenises too
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Never heard of them. But all parasitic insects are drawn to my eyes. They all seem to try to fly inside them. Black flies, normal ones, are the worst obviously, and if one wants in your eye, it will keep at it again and again for minutes until it makes it.
Some go for the lungs obviously, as far as "deet" suggestions go, peppermint oil is better, mix with water in a spray bottle, spray yourself. Catnip oil works better than deet like peppermint does, which is all fine and well until you run into a mountain lion.
Reading this headline legitimately made my eyes widen - which is of course how they get ya
African American flies you say?
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