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Is the bush fly established in New Zealand or just a summer visitor?

It reaches New Zealand from Australia, especially the North Island, more often in warm summers. It can breed here in warm conditions but is not as consistently established year-round nationwide as the house fly.

Why do bush flies swarm my face at a Kiwi barbecue?

They are after the moisture and salts in your sweat, tears and breath. Wiping your face, wearing a hat and using a fan all help keep them off.

Is the bush fly the same as the house fly in NZ?

They are close relatives and look similar, but the bush fly is smaller, darker, and far more likely to swarm people outdoors, while the house fly tends to stay on surfaces indoors.

How do I keep bush flies off my food when eating outside in NZ?

Cover food, use mesh food tents and a screened gazebo, run a fan, and hang a reusable trap upwind of the table. A trap draws them away from people, not toward them.

What is the "Aussie salute" and why do Kiwis do it too?

It's the constant hand-wave Aussies use to shoo bush flies from their face — and warm North Island summers bring enough bush flies here that Kiwis end up doing the same.

Do bush flies survive a New Zealand winter?

Not in any great numbers outdoors. Cold kills off adults and breeding stalls, which is why bush flies are a summer-to-autumn nuisance here rather than a year-round indoor pest.

Bush Fly

The persistent outdoor fly that swarms people and stock.

NZ Pest Guide

The bush fly is an Australian species that reaches New Zealand, particularly the North Island, especially during warm summers when winds and weather carry it across the Tasman. It is a close relative of the house fly and behaves similarly — but it is far more persistent outdoors, swarming around people, stock and food in the open.

Bush flies are a familiar nuisance at barbecues, on the beach and around farms, drawn to sweat, moisture and food. They are not established as a permanent breeding pest across all of New Zealand the way the house fly is, but summer outbreaks can be intense.

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The GotchaPest trap for this pest

Reusable Fly Trap

Screw-On Bottle Trap — NZ-made, reusable fly control for homes, cafés, farms and food prep areas.

$14.99

How to identify a bush fly

Very similar to the house fly — small, grey with thorax stripes — but slightly darker and smaller, and more inclined to swarm around your face and body outdoors rather than stay on a surface.

•Adult 4–6 mm, dark grey, similar to a small house fly.
•Strong tendency to swarm around people, stock and food outdoors.
•Drawn to sweat, moisture and protein.
•More common in warm summers and the North Island.

Are bush flies dangerous?

Like the house fly, they can carry bacteria from waste and dung to food and faces. They are not biters, but their persistence around eyes, mouths and food makes them a genuine hygiene nuisance, especially at outdoor gatherings.

Life cycle & fun facts

Bush flies breed in dung, especially cattle and horse dung, and develop fast in warm weather. Their tendency to swarm people outdoors is driven by a search for moisture and salts from sweat.

Fun fact: The bush fly is infamous in Australia for pestering people outdoors — it is the fly Aussies wave away with the famous "Aussie salute". Warm summers can bring outbreaks to New Zealand too.

What bush flies eat

Adults feed on sweat, tears, saliva, wound fluids and the moisture in food and dung. Larvae develop in animal dung. They are drawn to people for the salts and moisture in our sweat.