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From: nap@drutx.ATT.COM (N. A. Parsons)
Newsgroups: rec.birds,sci.environment
Subject: Re: pesticides & birds
Summary: Why not natural controls?
Keywords: does mosquito spraying harm birds?
Message-ID: <10422@drutx.ATT.COM>
Date: 18 Feb 89 22:10:11 GMT
References: <11752@ihlpa.ATT.COM>
Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO
Lines: 102

In article <11752@ihlpa.ATT.COM>, harolds1@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Schessler) writes:
> Dear Net:
> 
> I'm looking for information about the effects of community mosquito
> spraying on birds.  [His community plans to spray Malathion from the air.]
> 
> I've called various [organizations]; they all [say] they don't have "data"

Has all the world gone nuts?  Until there is data, can't we practice some
common sense?  Would the people who are ordering the Malathion spraying be
willing to stand exposed under it with their families and without washing
for a few days?  After all, without data, we don't know that there would be
any adverse effects, right?  Or is it a matter of knowing that it would
harm people, but we haven't bothered to collect data of how it affects
birds and animals?

Doesn't the extreme warning on Malathion constitute "data"?  Doesn't it say
to keep it out of water supplies, to wash immediately if gets on your skin,
etc.?  Aren't there enough commonalitites between animals and humans that a
few reasonable conclusions can be reached?

When I began "gardening" in earnest (a primary objective was to provide
habitat for birds), I became frantic from time to time when I was faced
with an infestation of some kind of pest that threatened to kill a valued
specimen.  When I asked for advice from my county agent or the various
garden centers, things like Malathion were always recommended.  I seemed to
be faced with the choice of risking the birds' lives with the use of
pesticides or losing the bushes, trees, etc. that provided the very food
and shelter on which they depended.

Eventually, I found information on natural control.  I was sceptical at
first, but it seemed my only choice.  The initial cost seemed a bit high,
but the result was fantastic, namely that I've begun to re-establish the
natural balance in my yard.  All of the pests that used to kill my plants
are still around (they would still have been around when I was using the
poisons, too), but now they are held in check by other insects or birds, so
any damage they do to a plant is totally insignificant.

The plant lets the "bad" insects have a bite or two from some of its leaves,
some "good" insects come along and gobble up the bad insects; still other
insects and birds gobble up these insects and other birds gobble up the
berries, seeds, or whatever the plant produces.  The plant grows bigger and
stronger.  A few "bad" insects survive long enough to lay eggs.  The good
ones lay theirs, too.  And the next year, the cycle starts over.  And I
don't have to pay for poison or worry about what its doing to me or my
environment.  The main thing I still need and don't yet have is a few bats
to go to work on the moths at night.

PLEASE NOTE: It is the unwise use of chemical poisons that creates the
imbalances in the first place, making more and more use of them necessary
because they have killed off the creatures that would otherwise control
the pests.

By the way, we used to use a "service" that fertilized the grass and
killed anything other than a blade of grass that existed (plant or
insect).  My dog would begin scratching violently as soon as the grass
came up in the spring and continue scratching until the snows covered it
for the winter.  (The vet diagnosed it as a common allergy to grass seen
in many dogs.  We had to give her a steroid to relieve her suffering.
That made her appetitie ravenous and she would eat everything in
sight--including birds if she could get hold of one.)

I had always worried about the effect on the birds of the weed and insect
poisons put on the grass, so one day, I cancelled the service and chose
an expensive, "natural" fertilizer that had to be used only twice in the
year--spring and fall ("expensive," but not as much as four applications of
chemical fertilizers).  My grass resisted the heat of mid-summer better
than it ever had, staying green when it used to fade.  The thatch that was
an annual problem began its natural cycle of getting broken down by the
bacteria supplied in the fertilizer.  I took my dog off the steroids and
she had no allergies (they had been due to the poisons, not to the grass,
of course).  And, of course, I no longer worry about possible dangers to
the flocks of birds that march across the lawn every day gobbling up
seeds and insects that I can't even tell are there.

As for mosquitoes, I've had little problem with them since the swallows
moved in and began raising their families here.  What appetites they have!
And what fun they are to watch, cutting through the air in "impossible"
turns and dives as they collect their suppers.  One of my favorite times
of the year is when the parents sit with the young on the old basketball
hoop, from where they take their flying lessons.

Anyway, if the community sprays with Malathion this year, my bet is that
they'll have to continue doing so because, without natural controls, the
pests will simply continue to move in and reproduce.  Any chance that the
powers that be would be willing to consider alternatives?

If you need advice on alternatives, you might try:

      Natural Gardening Research Center
      Hwy. 48 -- P.O. Box 149
      Sunman, IN 47041
      (812) 623-3800

These people sell natural controls, I'm sure profit is their primary
motive, but they've been kind enough to respond personally to my enquiries
about how to control peach borers, etc., and I'll bet they could either
make some good suggestions or point you in the right direction.  (The only
thing in their catalog about mosquitos is a mosquito repeller, something
electronic, I think, so maybe they won't be able to help, but I would give
them a try, anyway.)  Personally, I think your community ought to think in
terms of swallows and bats.  But what do I know?