As temperatures soar in Calgary, it’s time to brace yourself for a seasonal pest that’s impossible to ignore — the little mosquito.
According to the City of Calgary, mosquito activity tends to be at its highest mid-summer. That’s typically when the insects breed in temporary pools around the city and hunt for easily accessible containers like rain barrels and bird baths.
What does the outlook look like this year? While experts don’t anticipate a significant increase, they say we’ll see more mosquitoes swarming around the city as the days get warmer.
“This summer, especially after the rain we’ve gotten the last couple of weeks, we’ll probably see an increase in the mosquitoes over the next few weeks, especially for people who live near wetlands and for those of us that enjoy going outdoors,” said John Soghigian, an assistant professor of parasitology at the University of Calgary.
However, the problem may seem worse than it actually is, according to John Swann, an entomologist and head taxonomist at ABI Environmental Services.
“Fundamentally, we’re back probably to normal levels of mosquitoes, maybe a little bit below normal, but it seems excessive because we have had four previous years of very low levels because of drought,” he said.
There is one caveat, though. Intermittent thunderstorms lead to puddles across the city, serving as breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
“It doesn’t look at this point, with the weather forecast, that it will get worse than normal, but we’ll have to wait and see,” Swann said.
That’s not all, though. In April, researchers at the University of Calgary reported they’ve noticed a rise in numbers for Culex pipiens, also referred to as the common house mosquito, identified as a carrier of the West Nile virus.
The common house mosquito thrives in urban areas and seems unaffected by dry, warm and drought-like conditions.
Uncommon in Alberta
Researchers at the University of Calgary are working with pest management technicians in Calgary and Edmonton to understand the implications of a drought-tolerant mosquito species that’s relatively new to Alberta, the northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens. John Soghigian chats with Jo Horwood.
There’s no need to panic, according to Soghigian, who says West Nile is a relatively uncommon illness in Alberta.
His advice? Protect yourself by making sure you’ve got the basics covered.
“West Nile occurs relatively uncommonly in people here in Alberta, but we do see cases of it on occasion,” he said. “The best way to protect yourself from it is to either wear long sleeves when you’re outdoors or [use] bug spray.… In terms of the actual risk to people, I’d say it’s pretty low. We don’t know if this new mosquito will change that at all because we’re still trying to understand what effect it may have here.”
Precautions can help you stay safe
If you’re wondering what’s the best way to ward off those pesky mosquitoes, try avoiding the outdoors at dusk and dawn, which is when mosquitoes are most active.
You can also ensure there’s no shallow standing water around your home and drain containers such as bird baths and rain barrels, and empty flower pots regularly. This is a big one, according to Swann and Soghigian.
“They’ll use everything from bird baths to dog bowls to watering cans for flowers. And so if you have those kinds of things in your yard, just changing the water pretty regularly, if you change the water about once a week, mosquitoes won’t be able to develop fast enough to get out of it,” Soghigian said.
“But if you leave it for any longer than that, you could end up breeding mosquitoes in your backyard.”
Oh, and it’s best not to fall for unreliable solutions and home remedies like bug zappers and garlic, according to Swann.
“I’ve … seen garlic recommended, believe it or not. Either spraying your lawn with garlic or consuming garlic to repel mosquitoes. Those don’t work.”