We have a service in my area that sprays yards every three weeks with a compound made of natural plant oils. It doesn’t kill the bees, butterflies, or birds and last summer and this summer we had to leave the yard to get bit by mosquitoes. My neighbors were so impressed they signed up this summer and it has made our yards much more enjoyable over the last two years.That said – frogs, bats, praying mantis, and many other friendly creatures are a great inhibitor of mosquito growth. In Austin, Texas, the Congress St. bridge disgorges millions of bats every night and in the week my wife and I were visiting that wonderful town of music and food we saw nearly no insects and absolutely no mosquitoes.Frog populations in my area have declined since my childhood here. Summer roads used to be covered with the flattened dried out bodies of frogs mashed by cars. It was unusual to NOT see or hear frogs at night. Now, it is very rare to see frogs/toads unless you go to protected areas and/or wildlife refuges.Pollution, chemical yard and bug treatments, and over fertilization has ravaged frog/toad environments. Tadpoles eat mosquito larva and frogs eat mosquitoes. The more beneficial creatures we fail, the more we allow the bad creatures to grow in population and risk to our neighbors.Respectfully,C.
Looks like our state bird here in Maine. I noticed our frog population was down this year significantly, perhaps due to another warm winter which meant less water runoff, so a lot of local ponds didn’t fill up enough for frogs, but was apparently enough for mosquitoes. Normally they attack mainly tourists, but this year they’ve turned on the locals as well…
^to those above, amphibians and many reptiles ARE in serious trouble, as are birds, bats, and many valuable insect species, it’s not just climate change, but all the elements of “change” read “DAMAGE” to the environment by idiotic abuse by humans out for economic profit, ignoring their impacts.
Dtroutma almost 11 years ago
An Alaskan midge.
chazandru almost 11 years ago
We have a service in my area that sprays yards every three weeks with a compound made of natural plant oils. It doesn’t kill the bees, butterflies, or birds and last summer and this summer we had to leave the yard to get bit by mosquitoes. My neighbors were so impressed they signed up this summer and it has made our yards much more enjoyable over the last two years.That said – frogs, bats, praying mantis, and many other friendly creatures are a great inhibitor of mosquito growth. In Austin, Texas, the Congress St. bridge disgorges millions of bats every night and in the week my wife and I were visiting that wonderful town of music and food we saw nearly no insects and absolutely no mosquitoes.Frog populations in my area have declined since my childhood here. Summer roads used to be covered with the flattened dried out bodies of frogs mashed by cars. It was unusual to NOT see or hear frogs at night. Now, it is very rare to see frogs/toads unless you go to protected areas and/or wildlife refuges.Pollution, chemical yard and bug treatments, and over fertilization has ravaged frog/toad environments. Tadpoles eat mosquito larva and frogs eat mosquitoes. The more beneficial creatures we fail, the more we allow the bad creatures to grow in population and risk to our neighbors.Respectfully,C.
Fourcrows almost 11 years ago
Looks like our state bird here in Maine. I noticed our frog population was down this year significantly, perhaps due to another warm winter which meant less water runoff, so a lot of local ponds didn’t fill up enough for frogs, but was apparently enough for mosquitoes. Normally they attack mainly tourists, but this year they’ve turned on the locals as well…
CorosiveFrog Premium Member almost 11 years ago
I got citronella oil. That’s what my friend’s mother rubbed on us when I was a kid, it’s non-toxic and it smells like candy.
Dtroutma almost 11 years ago
^to those above, amphibians and many reptiles ARE in serious trouble, as are birds, bats, and many valuable insect species, it’s not just climate change, but all the elements of “change” read “DAMAGE” to the environment by idiotic abuse by humans out for economic profit, ignoring their impacts.
Ida No over 5 years ago
At that size, you can start using tennis rackets to swat them.
But, Muriel has needed to lose a bit of weight, so maybe this is an incentive to cut down on the carbs and do a bit more running.
bobpeters61 over 5 years ago
About the right size on the Gulf Coast.
Teto85 Premium Member over 5 years ago
They must live in Saskatchewan.