It’s that time of year when shorter days and longer nights tell us that it’s the fall season. In temperate regions of the world such as the central part of the United States, the daily temperatures are in decline.

Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley made note of it in his Hoosier dialect poem When the Frost is on the Punkin. He wrote:

“They’s something kinda harty-like about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here...”

What this season is called varies in the English-speaking countries around the world.

Apparently this time of year was first known as the harvest season, based on the Latin word “haust.” It has also been known as autumn. At one time, it was called the “fall of the leaf” season. Today most of us in the United States just call the season fall.

To me, one of the sure signs that we are in the middle of the fall is that several species of insects begin looking for a place to hibernate for the upcoming winter. Many show up around our homes.

Asian lady beetles can be seen flying in masses on the sunny side of the house and landing and walking on the siding. Brown marmorated stink bugs perambulate along window sills. Some paper wasp queens can be seen traipsing on the outside of our windows. And flies accumulate under eves and around doors. All are looking for a way to get inside for a long winter’s nap.

So what is the source of these insect home invaders? The Asian lady beetles arrive at our homes from vegetation where they are predators on aphids that feed on plants. Many of these lady beetles have spent their lives in trees, but others find their way from soybean fields.

In the soybean fields, Asian lady beetles feed on soybean aphids that at times can become a damaging pest to the soybean crop. In this case, the beetle is considered a beneficial insect, at least until it flies away and tries to enter our home.

The marmorated stink bug feeds on developing fruits during the summer months. So it is a serious pest even before it becomes more of a pest by invading our homes during the fall.

The queen paper wasps develop in late summer and early fall in those paper nests that hang under the eaves of houses and barns during the summer. These queen wasps leave their home nest, find a mate and then seek a sheltered place for the winter months. In the spring, the wasp will leave her winter abode and start a new nest. The queen wasp will feed the first young larvae herself until they emerge as adults and become the workers in the nest.

There are several types of flies that get into our homes. One is the aptly named house fly. Mostly house flies do not spend the winter as adults, so it is more of a problem in homes during the summer months.

There are two other fly species that are often found in our houses during the winter. One is the face fly that is so named because it is found around the faces of cattle during the summer months. Face fly larvae develop in cattle manure. In the winter these flies can often be found in our homes.

The other type of fly that shows up in our homes is called the cluster fly because it is often found in clusters as it hibernates. This fly feeds on earthworms as a larva. It is also called an attic fly because it can sometimes be found in large numbers spending the winter months in home attics.

Unheated garages can also harbor these flies that show up in their namesake clusters in seldom-disturbed corners of the structure.

When these insects get in our heated homes it is not quite the wintering site they were seeking. For successful hibernation, the insects need low winter temperatures, not warm houses. So inside our homes the active insects are doomed to die of starvation.

While in the warm house, the insects are attracted to lighted areas such as windows. At nighttime the light fixtures in the house attract insects where they die because of the heat. Cleaning out light fixtures during the fall provides a lesson on insects of the home-invading kind – bugs, beetles and flies, oh my.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Tom Turpin may write to him in care of this publication.