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Hi Paul,
Very unlikely. 'Deer flies' is the well-recognized name for tabanids (family Tabanidae) of the large genus Chrysops, from the primitive end of the very large section of relatively recently evolved flies, those grouped as Brachycera ('short horns', referring to their relatively short antennae). Like other tabanids, the females require a blood meal to develop their eggs, and are the ones that commonly bother you in the summer in wooded areas or clearings by trying to land on the back of your neck and 'bite' you (actually, saw into you). The males don't do this, are seldom seen, and visit flowers.
There are 25* or so eastern Canadian species pictured in a useful identification guide that I can't lay hands on at present**, and ~45 species listed for Canada and Alaska by H. J. Teskey (1990) in a very large publication on Tabanidae, available as a free PDF file from a Govt of Canada site, but which may cause indigestion.
As far as I know, none of the Chrysops around here assemble in hilltop swarms such as you observed.
Steve
**updating this, the Chrysops ID guide is available here:
http://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/tm-08/chrysops15.htm
(*indicates that there are 40 species recognized east of the Rockies, not 25; click on Gallery to see colour photos)
________________________________________
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] on behalf of Paul Ruggles [cpruggles@eastlink.ca]
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2016 11:38 AM
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Subject: [NatureNS] flies
Steve
Could they have been "deer" flys?
Paul.
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