Right now, as I type this, I have been defending (unsuccessfully) myself.
They are sneaky terroristic little pests.
Bomb dives to the back of the head.
attempts to delve into the dark depths of the ear canal.
Buzz dives across the line of vision, literally an inch away from the eyes.
Thumping the head is a real puzzler though, you would think they would hurt themselves more than They would hurt me.
Landing in the middle of my screen I would guess is the attraction of the light?
I just showered an hour ago. I don’t have any food or drink nearby. The garbage can is in the kitchen, where the flies aren’t. They are too busy banging around me to be feeding in the kitchen.
So how about it, any ideas why flies ATTACK?
Got the flyswatter out now. 3 kills, 1 being very cautious right now, and 1 MIA. so far. The MIA I swatted out of the air, but I haven’t found the body so I am pretty sure it is still alive, just stunned.
I wonder why flies bite. Mosquitos I understand, they want my blood. But what the %$#@ do flies want with me? When I’m at the river etc. those bastards love to bite me. And it hurts! Not the big horseflies either, regular sized ones.
Almost literally. A fly brain is almost entirely given over to visual processing, which allows him his superfast response to motion. Light level changes on enough eye facets and zzzip! Off he goes.
Eat, Sleep, defaecate, and procreate. I don’t fit into any of those categories. At least not for a fly. I guess I must be in the entertainment category. Btw, #4 stopped buzzing me. Permanently.
I’ve never understood that…unless there really is something about people that seems like it would be fun to eat or taste…
It’s never worth it in the end because they almost always die.
I have come in contact two times in my life that I can rememeber with biting flies.
First time: Summer camp on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. They were called Deerflies and holy crap, they were mean. And they were everywhere as soon as the dew burned off. The only relief we got was either being indoors (not permitted without a sanctioned reason, so not too much help there). Being in the woods helped, too, but I don’t know why. When it got dark the flies went to bed, or went out doing crimes, or whatever flies do at night. But then the mosquitoes came. Bug spray didn’t really help a lot with either issue, unfortunately. Those fly bites made great big welts and then you scratched them open and they got crusty and wept and son of a bitch, I hated those things.
Second time: Veterans Admin. Hospital, Perry Point, Maryland. I was doing some volunteer work with the Drug Rehab Domiciliary Program with the vets. It was 2002 and there was a drought in Maryland. Most days it was around 100 degrees and very dry. I would hang out on my break outside under the trees. It’s really a nicely-landscaped facility. It’s on the water and has tons of huge old trees and big lawns. Anyhow, hanging out outside beat hanging out inside with the mostly surly hospital staff, but I paid a price. The flies there were black flies, smaller than the deerflies, but even meaner. And sneakier. And faster. And there were more of them. We just got used to swatting constantly. Those bites, I still have the scars from them.
