Bird Baths need maintenance
My parents have a bird bath near their bird feeder so the birds can take a bath, get a drink, and lounge around. It gets lots of activity, especially during the hot summer. Unfortunately, birds are not the only creatures that use bird baths. Mosquitoes lay their eggs on the surface of the water. They then hatch into larvae, called wigglers. After eating for a while, the wigglers become pupae. This is similar to a caterpillar spinning a cocoon and then changing into a butterfly. The difference is that wigglers turn into mosquitoes.
That leads to a dilemma. How do you water the birds without providing for habitat for mosquitoes? There are some things you can do without too much trouble.
Scrub Weekly
First, do not let your birdbath get crudded up like the one in this photo. Scrub it out weekly. You would not want to drink from something this dirty and the birds do not appreciate that either. You can see a brick under the water on the left. That is so small birds can perch there and drink. Some of them cannot perch on the rim of the birdbath and reach the water. They also cannot stand in the water without being underwater, so the brick helps.
Don’t let your birdbath get like this one
Use mosquito dunks
Second, at the top of the photograph, you will see a small round object that looks like a donut. It is called a Mosquito Dunk. These contain Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis and are allowed in organic agriculture. The toxin is produced by bacteria and does not harm the birds who come to drink. It does kill the mosquitoes. Each dunk is supposed to last thirty days and treat up to 100 square feet of water. Since my parents have been using them, they have had no more mosquito larvae in their bird feeder.
Available where plants are sold
You can purchase Mosquito Dunks at most garden supply places and big box retailers. There is also a bail of barley straw you can place in a pond if it is over 100 square feet. It does not eliminate the mosquitoes, but does help keep them under control. The bails even come in cute floating planters so you can put a water lily or something in them to camouflage the bail and make it look better in your pond.
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