Summer of the Fly

Observation by Mike Brubaker:

This summer we have seen these annoying little flies everywhere. I don’t think they bite but they like to swarm around. It has been warm but not hot and there has been regular rain to keep everything nice and green. Mosquitoes have been few in our area, and lots of dragon flies. Wasps seem to be average. Anyways wondering if anyone can speak to the species of fly and what effects their numbers.

Jozef Slowik, entomologist with the UAF Cooperative Extension, writes:

It's a muscoid fly, which is the groups of flies that house flies and horse flies fall into. They can be very numerous when the food source or environment is right. They also feed on a variety of things from rotting organic matter, nectar and fungus. What triggers them can be a mystery. Folks with cabins see a boom when the first spring days hit and all the adults hiding in the siding warm up enough to move about. I just moved up from Southeast, and often some eagle would drop a fish carcass in the bushes and the flies would mate and feed on it and you'd have a boom from that. Sounds like they are not the biting type which is good.

Comments from LEO Editors:

Flies play an important part in the ecosystem by breaking down organic matter. However, they can also be vectors for disease, carrying parasites and pathogens on and in their bodies as they move around. According to the National Environmental Health Association, "the common housefly can transmit the pathogens that cause shigellosis, typhoid fever, E. coli, and cholera. The disease-causing agents can either be transmitted by the body hairs or by the tarsi which are transmitted to food or surfaces when the fly lands." Practicing good sanitation, reducing lamps that attract flies, reducing access to the house, utilizing screens on doors and windows, using fly predators, fly swatters, and chemical controls are recommended strategies for managing the number of flies in your area.