Aside from the irritation caused by mosquito bites, we need to be concerned about the role mosquitoes play in transmitting West Nile virus (which has now spread throughout the USA) and several forms of encephalitis. There are 62 mosquito species in the state: some feed during the day and others at night; some breed in …
These are a group of predatory worms (annelids, related to earthworms), one type of which attacks mammals. They lie on shallow, mucky (not sandy) bottoms in quiet water and react to moving shadows by swimming towards the shadow-casting object. Their bite is totally painless and non-toxic because the saliva includes anesthetics, anticoagulants, and powerful antibiotics, …
A small aphid-like insect from Japan, the woolly adelgid can kill mature hemlocks and can become a serious problem around Lake Sagamore and, more generally, in the Northeast. Make sure that you inspect your trees (those infected will have brittle, dark leaves covered with white wool on the underside). To prevent the loss of the …
Deer ticks are the vector for Lyme Disease (as well as 15 other diseases, including erlichosis, babesiosis, and spotted fever) because ticks feed repeatedly during their life cycle and carry infection from one animal to another. No bigger than a poppy seed in their nymph stage, and the size of a pin head as adults, …
Deer, usually an icon of nature’s pastoral beauty, can also be a pest when their population is in an expansion cycle. Residents are encouraged to landscape with plants that are generally unattractive to deer, such as mountain laurel, ferns, daffodils, and evergreens (but not arborvitae). Despite lists (such as this) of vegetation deer may spurn, …
Erroneously considered to be larvae of gypsy moths, tent caterpillars emerge every several years in vast numbers and can severely defoliate trees. While healthy trees rarely die as a result of caterpillar action, the infestation is unsightly and damaging. Egg masses of tent caterpillars are easily seen in fall and winter, as black “bracelets” clasped …