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4 HOME AND ENERGY, September 17, 2008 Like the swallows to Capistrano, cluster flies return to homes each fall. If you are plagued with flies around your windows each winter and spring then you have cluster flies. Cluster flies are parasites on earth- worms, their cycle taking place in lawns and fields in the sum- mer. Towards the end of August the adult flies start to look for a suitable place to overwinter. What could be a better place to spend the winter than a centrally heated home with a nice attic, insu- lated walls and lots of small cracks and gaps on the exteri- or to crawl into? These fl ies will often gather on the sunny, protected sides of a home in early fall and then start to pen- etrate into the structure with the com- ing of colder nights and frost. During the winter the flies are dormant but a bright sunny day will often wake some of them up. Crawling through the wall or attic insulation they will emerge out from under baseboards, around window trim or out through ceiling fixtures and pot lights into the house. Once in the house they will congregate at the windows try- ing to get outside. At night, they will buzz around lights. One home we treated had mosquito netting over the beds to keep the flies out when they tried to read at night. In the spring, usually around mid- March the flies start to come out of dor- mancy and will emerge inside the house often in large numbers. This will continue until mid to late-April when they have either all gone back out- side or come into the house. Cluster flies do not feed or breed or lay eggs in the house. The rural legend, espe- cially prevalent up around Bruce and Grey Counties, that the government intro- duced cluster flies to control caterpillars on fruit trees is another example of blaming it on the government. In fact, they were first reported here in Ontario in the early 1900s. Thorough sealing of all cracks and crevices helps prevent cluster flies from entering. They especially like to enter high up around soffits, eaves and dorm- ers. Homes that are shaded by trees seem to be less affected. We provide an effective treatment of cluster flies by treating the exterior and attic of homes at the correct time in the fall and/or spring. Taken from an embroidered plaque hanging on the wall of one of our cus- tomers: If Noah truly was so wise He would have swatted Those two flies. Article supplied by Dr. Bug Autumn is the time for cluster flies to appear