Today’s blog was written by Senior Park Naturalist Hope Freeman at Grundy Lake Provincial Park.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
What’s that buzzing sound filling the air during your visit to a park? None other than our lovely friend, the mosquito!
Love ’em, hate ’em, or tolerate ’em, mosquitoes are incredibly valuable little insects!
Let me try to convince you.
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Love-em!
Mosquitoes keep our parks beautiful! They make great food for the wildlife we love to see and pollinate the plants that brighten our scenic views.
Let’s start with who’s eating mosquitoes.
Both Big Brown Bats and Little Brown Bats eat several types of mosquitoes. Dragonflies and damselflies are the ultimate mosquito muncher. As adults, they can eat 100s of mosquitoes per day. They also devour aquatic mosquito larvae as nymphs.
Waterfowl, like geese and ducks, as well as migratory songbirds indulge in both adult mosquitoes and their aquatic larvae. Similarly, fish including bass, bluegill, and catfish dine on mosquito larvae.
Turtles, salamanders, frogs, toads, Water Scavenger Beetles, and the Predaceous Diving Beetle join in on the mosquito larvae feast.
Three cheers for the mosquito for being an abundant food source for many creatures!
Mosquitoes are not just important for animals; they are also pollinators for plants.
Male mosquitoes don’t feed on blood at all, they turn their nose or proboscis (needle-like mouth part) up at it in search of nectar from plants.
Male mosquitoes work their pollinating magic as they buzz from plant to plant, accidently distributing pollen as they feed. Without pollinators, the array of colours and foods we enjoy in nature would not exist!
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Hate ’em!
Mosquitoes are most active during the summer when parks are busiest – go figure!
Depending on where you are in Ontario, mosquito season generally starts in mid-May and lasts into mid-August.
Mosquitoes usually thrive where and when it is warm and wet (forests, rivers, lakes… our favourite places). They are most active between dusk and dawn, but depending on the weather, can be out all day.
Starting to get itchy just thinking about camping season? That’s okay! But let’s not let the thought of mosquitoes (and other biting insects) spoil our outdoor fun! There are many ways to camp comfortably with bugs!
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Tolerate ’em!
Although we may not want mosquitoes joining our camping or day-use trips, they are essential members of the ecosystem.
You can limit the number of mosquitoes that join your adventures by using bug sprays, natural scents (e.g., lavender, citronella, rosemary), wearing light-coloured clothing and bug nets, and even adding dragonfly buddies your hats!
If you want to try and avoid mosquitoes from crashing your camping trip, give fall camping a try — mosquitoes are usually much less abundant from September to November.
Better yet, did you know mosquitoes hibernate? Give winter camping a go to avoid them altogether!
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To the mighty, but still a little annoying, mosquito
Love ’em, hate ’em, or tolerate ’em, our parks would lack a lot of our favourite species without the mighty mosquito.
Now I’m not saying you must love mosquitoes, because I certainly don’t!
Instead, I encourage you to consider thanking the mosquitoes for feeding your favourite wildlife and pollinating beautiful native flowers.
Maybe then you’ll begin to hate them a bit less, and if you employ the wealth of tricks and tools to help tolerate mosquitoes, they too will become another part of your memorable camping trip!
