The stable fly exists all over the world, and it feeds on the blood of livestock and horses, but they will also feed on humans when these options are unavailable. Stable flies are synanthropic, which means they exploit human habitats and food sources in order to survive. Stable flies are well known for their extremely painful bites and their tendency to swarm toward people gathered outdoors. In fact, this swarming behavior has become significant enough to deter tourists from vacationing in Florida’s panhandle, where stable flies are common. The annual threat of stable flies has also prevented people from vacationing near the great lakes and other areas located near large bodies of water.

Stable flies have long been known for swarming tourists in Florida’s panhandle region, as northerly winds carry these flies to highly populated beaches where they cannot be deterred from biting beachgoers. Due to these repeated attacks, Florida’s tourism industry has taken a major hit, as past visitors have no desire to relive the horrors of past attacks. Stable flies have also attacked people vacationing around the Great Lakes. According to Howard Russell, an entomologist at Michigan State University, when cows are not around, horseflies prefer to bite people’s ankles and knees, which draw significant amounts of blood.

Stable flies multiply their population numbers within various forms of organic matter including silage, crop residue, hay, grain, manure and soiled animal bedding. When highly active breeding sites are located, pest control professionals sometimes uproot these sites, but this is not always sufficient for removing all stable flies from an isolated area. When stable fly swarms abruptly appear within populated areas, mainly beaches, pest control professionals can be dispatched to the affected site in order to conduct aerial insecticide operations. However, wind often blows stable fly swarms away before pest control professionals arrive to the site.

Have you ever witnessed a swarm of stable flies while visiting a beach location?