Wow! The mosquitoes are out and about here in northern Wisconsin! So, of course, the inclination is to zap them all. They buzz around our heads at night, harass us while we are gardening, and make kayaking without a breeze impossibly uncomfortable. Mosquitoes seem to defy the best tent flaps and screen doors to get indoors.
So it’s difficult to see what possible good they do. But, if you see those beautiful dragonflies circling, they are looking for lunch. And lunch is primarily mosquitoes.
Those little hummingbirds that we lure to our yards with red hummingbird feeders? In addition to sugar syrup, they need protein, too. Where do they get protein? Mosquitoes.
We have lost track of our bats, but we used to have them in a little bat house on the east side of our barn. Every dusk they came out to dine on mosquitoes.
We all know that mosquitoes breed in standing water. Even a small drainage ditch may hold water long enough for a full crop of mosquito larvae to reach maturity. Which is why they seem to die back at the end of summer as the environment dries out.
These same drainage ditches also breed the beautiful fireflies that we have here. The fireflies need water, too. So do the dragonflies. All of these insects breed in water. So while I still put mosquito coils in the standing water in a low place near the house, and I slather on our Singing Flower Studio Insect Repellent, I have become much more tolerant of these annoying creatures that create the base of the food chain. They provide food for many birds, fish and frogs.
Mosquitos raise lots of challenges, try to figure out ways to curb their appetites with out overuse of sprays and zappers. Those methods are indiscriminate and kill lots of good little animals as well as the mosquitoes.
We offer Mosquito Repellent in two sizes to help out. And if they don’t work, try our little No-Itch roll-on to stop the itching. Witch Hazel always calms irritated skin.
