Identify Your Pest Flying insects
Identify Your Pest
Flying Insects in Alberta Homes and Yards
This guide covers the wasps, bees, flies and moths that Albertans commonly find in and around their homes. Some sting, some breed in food or drains, and some are pollinators best left alone or relocated. Note the size, colour and where it gathers, then open the closest match to see what it means and what to do next.
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Flying insects we identify and treat
Bald-faced hornet
The bald-faced hornet is a large black and white wasp that builds a grey, football-shaped paper nest in trees, shrubs or under eaves. Nests grow fast through summer and are often noticed late in the season, when falling leaves bring them into view.
Blow fly (bottle fly)
Blow flies are shiny green, blue or bronze flies that buzz loudly and are often larger than house flies. A sudden group of them indoors often means a mouse, bird or other animal has died in a wall, attic or crawl space.
Bumblebee
Bumblebees are large, fuzzy native bees that pollinate gardens, crops and wildflowers across Alberta. People notice them when a nest turns up in a bird house, under a deck or shed, or in a compost pile close to where they work or play.
Cluster fly
Cluster flies are slow, dull grey flies that crowd onto sunny windows in fall and again in late winter and spring. They spend the winter hidden in attics and walls, but they do not breed indoors and are not known to spread disease.
Drain fly
Drain flies are tiny, fuzzy flies that look like miniature moths and rest on bathroom and basement walls. They breed in the slimy film inside drains, so seeing them usually points to a plumbing spot that needs cleaning.
Fruit fly
Fruit flies are tiny tan flies with red eyes that hover around ripe fruit, recycling and drains. They breed in anything moist and fermenting, so a small problem can grow fast in a warm kitchen.
Honeybee
Honeybees are lightly fuzzy bees, golden brown to almost black, kept by beekeepers across Alberta for honey and crop pollination. Homeowners usually notice them as a swarm, a large cluster of bees resting on a branch or wall in late spring or early summer.
House fly
The house fly is the grey, fast-flying fly most people find buzzing around kitchens, garbage cans and patio tables. It breeds in garbage, manure and rotting food, so many flies indoors usually point to a breeding spot nearby.
Indian meal moth
The Indian meal moth is the small pantry moth most often found flying in kitchens or crawling out of cereal, flour, nuts or pet food. Its larvae spin silk webbing through dry food, which is often the first sign people notice.
Paper wasp
Paper wasps are slender wasps with long, dangling legs that build small, open paper nests under eaves, railings and decks. In Alberta they live mostly in the far south, but the invasive European paper wasp now also turns up in Calgary and near Edmonton.
Webbing clothes moth
The webbing clothes moth is a small golden moth whose larvae chew holes in woollens, furs, silk and other animal-based materials. It hides in dark closets, storage bins and under furniture, so damage is often found before the moths are seen.
Yellowjacket
Yellowjackets are small, smooth black and yellow wasps that build covered paper nests in the ground, in walls or under eaves. People notice them most in late summer, when workers crowd garbage, patios and sweet drinks and defend their nests hard.
Still not sure what it is?
Send us a photo and our office team will call you back to identify it, recommend a treatment and book your visit. Or call us and describe what you are seeing.