🍃 Invasive Spongy Moths🐛 <= my data!
We had a helicopter go over the nearby lake. It is always a bit creepy since I associate them with emergencies. I asked on Facebook, and they are spraying BTK on the caterpillars. I hope all our butterflies and caterpillars are safe here. They were up about an hour. Our LDD Spongy Moth caterpillars have mostly died off. After a couple of years they get hit by a naturally occuring virus.
helicopter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
Public notices describe BTK as harmless to people, and non-toxic to insects, birds, fish, mammals, and adult moths and butterflies. However, this is misleading. BTK is not species-specific and, if consumed, will result in mortality of any butterfly or moth larvae at the time it is sprayed. BTK has been sprayed in several extremely rare Ontario habitats, such as oak savannah, oak woodland and tall grass prairie — which means it can also negatively affect many rare moths and butterflies that use these habitats.
I was quite happy to be able to sit on our back deck in the 31 C. weather. There were flies, but no mosquitoes or blackflies. I've been using Skin-so-soft when I go out to do the lawn. That certainly helps. My left arm is covered in several blackfly bites, oozing little hives. Unlike mosquitoes, they land and immediately dig in. You just don't feel them.
10 comments:
...it was hot here too!
You do get some great pictures of your bird population.
Nesting is a beautiful miracle
We have baby Sparrows around but I haven't seen any young Robins yet.
No bites? Mosquitoes were lined up on my screen this morning. TG it held. 😀
Hari OM
SSS is recommended for Scottish midgies too - I've never actually tried that out because thankfully the Hutch is midge free! It's nice stuff though. I used to have it all the time in OZ and was never too bothered by mozzies. YAM xx
I saw a robin in my yard who let me photograph him. Not seen a nest, though. Wow, that's a LOT of wood duck eggs. I sure hope some survive.
Goodness, I thought it took a long time to get MY electricity back on, but this is ridiculous. Glad your family is all together and safe, at least.
Hello,
Love your sweet birds, the young robin is adorable. I have had a few ticks bites but not a mosquito bite yet. Take care, enjoy your day!
Lovely to see the young birds
Those black flies are ugly little critters, aren't they? And I am wild about your bird photos. The babies are darling. I hope my chickadees will soon fledge -- and that I'll see them, although I'll miss watching Mama Chick.
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