Bad Bug Year

[Jack Tarlin]

Lots of the hikers we've had stay with us this year commented on how bad the mosquitos were this year, especially in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I had originally assumed that this was mainly due to the continual wet weather; i.e., when it rains a lot, as it did all spring and summer, water tends to pool up and collect in various places meaning more mosquitos a few weeks down the line.

Heard an interesting alternative theory today. Apparently there's been some sort of blight in the East that's killed off thousands of bats. Bats eat hundreds, if not thousands of mosquitos a day, so if an area all of a sudden becomes bat-free, it means there are an awful lot of extra mosquitos in the neighborhood.

Any biologists out there want to comment on this?

Any thoughts on this?

[Tinker]

Nope. I'm a brain surgeon .
The logic is right, though. Someone needs to breed dragonflies. I know they prey on mosquitoes.

[Elder]

You are correct Jack! ()

It is called White-nose Syndrome and is 100% fatal. There have been many die-offs in the North east and down into Virginia.
There is so far no cure/treatment. The fungus forms on the nose area and disturbs their hibernation. Awakening early, with no food source...reserves of energy deplete. They do not survive.
There was/has been some question about potential human transmission..meaning humans in bat caves "carrying" WNS to other caves on gear etc.
Best guess is bat to bat..
And Yes. They are Not eating the skeeters!

Oh, and a wet year!

[Bulldawg]

One brown bat will eat 1000 mosquitoes per hour of darkness each night throughout the summer. We learned that when we built bat boxes as our conservation project during our Leave No Trace studies during Cub Scout Summer Camp. I have to say even as the LNT instructor, I was impressed with that figure. Help out your bats by adding a bat box to your property.

[modiyooch]

someone needs to repopulate the bats near Dalton, MA. The mosquitoes buzzing in my ear all night long almost drove me insane.

[hopefulhiker]

Last year they closed a bunch of bat caves in an effort to control this bat fungus.. One solution would be to put up bat houses around the trail.. they should be mounted about 12 feet off the ground on poles or trees.. It also helps if one spreads a little guano on the house as this attracts other bats..

[Tin Man]

I had thought the bat population in my backyard might have been lost to the bat fungus, but I have seen a few recently giving me hope they can recover.
But to Jack's question, the skeeter population is likely elevated by a combo of lots of rain and fewer bats.

[rickb]

That bats play a significant role in keeping the mosquito population down is a myth.

Common sense tells us this. There are just too fricking many skeeters out there. Even if bats ate hundreds an hour, the math doesn't add up. Even with many millions of bats out there.

And while bats do eat mosquitoes, they tend to prefer larger insects. More nutrition for the effort.

Anyway, that's what common sense tells me.

A quick Google seems to confirm this, although some smart people would disagree.

In any event, this whitenose thing is shaping up to be an ecological tragedy of huge proportion.

[Spokes]

Apparently part of the mosquito theory is due to comments made my Emily Brunkhurst, a Fish and Game wildlife biologist in this article:

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/p...01/1001/NEWS01


-Spokes

[Snowleopard]

Bugs here (North Central Mass.) have been way better than the last two summers. I was expecting mosquitos to be unbearable because of the wet summer but that hasn't happened (yet). Not many black flies either.

The AT in SW Mass. and neighboring areas were worse than here but not too bad. There have been frosts in northern New England and the Adirondacks.

[Pedaling Fool]

Bugs here (North Central Mass.) have been way better than the last two summers. I was expecting mosquitos to be unbearable because of the wet summer but that hasn't happened (yet). Not many black flies either.

The AT in SW Mass. and neighboring areas were worse than here but not too bad. There have been frosts in northern New England and the Adirondacks.

I've heard others say that and they credit the cool temps. So it does sound reasonable to believe that the cool temps are a factor in the white-nose syndrom, but hopefully research will uncover the truth.

This kind of sound like the problems the honey bees were having for a few years, I'm not sure if they really discovered the source, but seems like the bees are in recovery, hope the bats do the same. As far as I'm concerned the more bats the better, also I remember seeing a show on TV that showed people that collect their droppings for use as ferterlizer, suppose to be really good stuff.

[mrhughes1982]

I got swarmed the whoe time yesterday on 10 mile loop in Pickett St Park in Tennessee. Was pretty annoying. Finally fixed my bandana so I at least wouldn't hear them in my ears and trecked on.

Think I'm going to get a pet frog to sit on my hat and feast while I'm hiking, that would take care of em. He'd love me too!

[springerfever]

Any truth that a dryer-sheet attached to your clothing/hat helps a little in keeping the skeeters away.?

[acronym]

a friend stapled 2 sheets on his hydration belt last week for a trail run. Didn't work at all. I've had no problems with mosquitos this year - eastern ma, didn't see any when I was on the AT in June, and again no problems july and august in NH. Deer flies, however, were a different story.

[warraghiyagey]

There's also been more crabs on the trail than normal . . .

[saimyoji]

There's also been more crabs on the trail than normal . . .

you really should get that taken care of.

[Bulldawg]

There's also been more crabs on the trail than normal . . .

you really should get that taken care of.

You do know how to take care of that right, Emerson?

[Blissful]

Funny, the bugs here in VA were different and less- like no Japanese beetles which was strange. They usually strip my roses and apple trees.

[saimyoji]

Picture?

warrgy walking down main street:

[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Brian/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Brian/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG]
http://www.avert.org/media/photos/crabs-wikipedia.jpg

[Wise Old Owl]

Every year is a bad bug year if you hike above Pa its normal.