Mosquito Abatement
Nature's Solution: Tree Swallows!
Nature’s Insect Control Service
Have you seen streamlined tree swallows, with their blue-green backs, white belly and long pointed wings performing aerial acrobatics around Nepahwin Lake in the spring and summer? They can eat and feed their young up to 6000 insects a day, including mosquitos! Please consider the negative impact of pyrethroids, the common ingredient in mosquito and tick control yard service sprays, not only on insects, but on aquatic life as outlined in the Don’t Kill the Buzz information sheet, .
After a long migration, having most probably flown along the Atlantic Coast from their winter range in Florida and Central America, the swallows arrive in early April in Nepawhin’s watershed. And they are hungry! In the next 3-4 months they need to build their nests, lay eggs and feed their young.
Tree swallows are common, but overall populations in North America declined by 30% between 1966-2019. Numbers probably declined for two reasons: the limited availability of nesting sites and insecticides. Luckily, they adapt well to appropriately sized nesting boxes. To help the swallows find a home, the Idylwylde Golf Club maintains 20 regularly occupied nest boxes. In 2019 RL Beattie Grade 6 students built 30 nest boxes that were erected at various sites around Nepahwin Lake in 2021 and those not at Idylwylde continue to monitored by the by LoEllen Park Secondary School Outdoor Education class.
A big cheer to the Nepahwin watershed community and residents who are swallow stewards!
To learn more about tree swallows go to: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tree_Swallow/lifehistory
