GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

01-04-2003, 08:56 PM

In article ,
wrote:

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:39:45 -0900, (Jan Flora) wrote:

In article ,
(mypet) wrote:

Where in the world is mosquito eye soup a delicacy? It doesn't really
sound that tasty, but then I wouldn't think anything really would that
was dug out of ....well....you know.

So, if bats don't eat that many skeeters. What IS the best mosquito
anhililator? Let's see we've got purple martins, swifts, hummingirds,
dragonflies, bats...how does each one rate?

Swallows are tops. If you have them in your area, build lots of swallow
nest boxes. You can find the spec's online.

Jan in Alaska
zone 3

Swallow nest boxes? Don't they build mud nests under the eaves of
houses? It's
a misnomer that they eat mosquitoes. They eat mostly fat juicy moths.

There are several types of swallows. One type nests under bridges, under the
eaves of the house, etc. in mud houses that they build. Another type digs
nest holes in mud banks. The barn swallow nest in barns and other farm
buildings.

Up here we have the "Violet-green swallow" and the "tree swallow" (among
several other types) that nest in hollow trees, fenceposts, barn eaves and
will happily move into nest boxes. I watch them eat mosquitos every morning
and evening. (My front yard is a 7 acre lake, so we have a healthy mossie
population. We don't have many moths here.)

I didn't realize that purple martins are in the swallow family. Just found
them in the bird book, tucked right in among the swallows.

The reason why so many birds migrate to the far north to rear their young
is because of the tremendous protein base here -- mosquitos.

Jan