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The FlySpotter© software was developed to provide a house fly monitoring system that is simple, efficient, and reliable over time. Since the 1970’s, “Spot cards” or 4 x 6 inch blank white index cards have been used by researchers to monitor house fly activity at animal facilities. Spot cards (typically 10-20 cards) are placed in locations where house flies rest and leave “fly spots” (regurgitation and fecal spots). Spot cards are replaced every 7 days, and the number of fly spots on each removed card is counted with the average count for all cards recorded as the fly activity count for the previous week. Weekly activity counts are compared over time to determine if fly activity is increasing or decreasing. Changes in activity counts may also be used to assess the success of fly mitigation measures applied during the previous week(s).
FlySpotter© was developed to rapidly count the fly spots on each spot card for you! Now, the weekly house fly activity count can be determined in just a few minutes. After replacing spot cards, scan these cards using a flatbed scanner to create a JPEG image file (the same way you would scan a family photo). Load the image into the FlySpotter© program, and the software will count the fly spots and record your data in a fraction of a second! You can also view past activity counts or compare the current activity count to those in previous weeks, months, or years. Activity counts can also be exported to an Excel file for additional analysis if desired.
To use FlySpotter©, download the program from and select the help tab for information on recording sampling sites and loading scanned spot card images. If you run into any problems, please contact Dr. Alec Gerry (alec.gerry@ucr.edu) for assistance.