Fruitfly kill off?

By Jack Brummet, Home & Garden Ed.

This is a pretty mundane question, but I'll ask anyway. In Seattle, at around mid-August we typically experience an aggressive and massive invasion of fruit flies (a/k/a Drosophila). They stick around for about three weeks before disappearing. During that time, you can't leave an uncorked bottle of wine (or vinegar) out, you have to put a napkin over anything fruity or winy or sugary you drink and you have to keep fruit and tomatoes in the refrigerator, a/k/a "icebox", and yes, I realize putting tomatoes in the reefer is a crime.

OK. So this year: bupkis. Not a single fruitfly has appeared! Are they extinct? Did global warming off them? Are they becoming like cicadas, only returning every few years? Or maybe they decided Ballard was just too slim pickings? I can't remember if we had fruitflies in Berkeley or NYC or not.

Has anyone else noticed this? I'll actually be happy if you have fruitflies. On a more sinister note, I used to hear bats every night in our Ballard/North Beach nabe, but it has been at least a year and a half since I heard one or saw their silhouette in the streetlight..

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