Coexistence With Our Urban Wildlife

As a West Nile survivor from 2012, I would never want aerial spraying to be a solution to mosquitoes.

Broadcast spraying MIGHT hit the intended target but it WILL fall on people’s lawns, pools, bird feeders, beehives, and possibly pulled into the attic air space of homes through the soffit and gable vents.

As children and pets roll and play in the grass will the residual absorb into their skin?

One solution to the issue is using nature itself.  The following wildlife species are particularly helpful because they are excellent at consuming mosquitoes!

Dragonflies can stop the problem before it begins! Mosquitoes lay eggs in bodies of standing water, and dragonfly larvae happily eat the mosquito larvae before they develop into mature adults. Dragonflies on the wing also eat adult mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes are easy targets for bats to catch, their sonar skills make them the perfect predator for hunting tiny insects. A University of Wisconsin study found evidence of mosquito consumption in over 70 percent of the guano samples from little brown bats, suggesting that bats in their natural habitat eat far more mosquitoes than previously thought.

With their wide, bristle-lined mouths adapted to easily scoop prey from the air, and long, pointed wings and tails for precision aerial manoeuvring, the common Nighthawk is a huge threat to mosquitoes. Other birds known to dine on mosquitoes include purple martins, Eastern bluebirds, red-eyed vireos, yellow warblers, downy woodpeckers, house wrens, Baltimore orioles, and hummingbirds.

They may not be able to fly, but that doesn’t stop the Red Spotted Newt from being a dangerous predator for mosquitoes.  Insects are a mainstay of their diet and these newts help control mosquito populations from Nova Scotia south to Georgia and as far west as western Tennessee by eating mosquito eggs and larvae.

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I recently came across an article where a reporter commented that aerial spraying would have to occur if “Mother Nature doesn’t step up”. Maybe Mother Nature could gain a foothold if we stop poisoning the insects they eat.