Moved to NC, got a hurricane and now mosquitoes almost the size of birds

[Zooport]

This is almost like a sci fi thing.  Another reason I'm glad I didn't buy a place in Wrightsville.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/monster-mosquitoes-3-times-larger-193452433.html

[Night Wing]

Our mosquitoes on our Texas coastline aren't large, about one quarter inch in length, but they are very aggressive. They will swarm on a person as soon as they leave a parked vehicle when it is before daylight.

During daylight, they are easier to see, but they will still swarm a person. This is why why when I go down to the upper Texas coast, I like to get there just a little before sunrise. I always take a can of bug spray just in case the mosquitoes are real bad numbers wise. Once on the water, they won't follow.

[yugi]

Good reminder to stick to organic food

[Zooport]

Good reminder to stick to organic food

I think we would be THEIR organic food.  Yikes.

[PonoBill]

Or what Alaskans would call "Tuesday". Mosquitoes in the tundra areas are just astonishing in their size, aggressiveness, and number. Any repellent that brags "DEET-free" is used as a tasty sauce by these monsters.

[stoneaxe]

Yikes...

One of the really nice things about moving last year....no mosquitoes...no biting flies....we can sit outside at dusk and not get a single bite. Our old place you would lose a pint of blood doing that. It's amazing how much nicer it makes things when you don't need OFF, citronella candles, and screens to sit in the backyard. Only thing we have in abundance is dragonflies...big ones..4" long at least....which is weird because I always thought anywhere they live mosquitoes do too. Maybe there is just so many the mosquitoes don't have a chance. I like dragonflies.....

[Dwight (DW)]

Yikes...

One of the really nice things about moving last year....no mosquitoes...no biting flies....we can sit outside at dusk and not get a single bite. Our old place you would lose a pint of blood doing that. It's amazing how much nicer it makes things when you don't need OFF, citronella candles, and screens to sit in the backyard. Only thing we have in abundance is dragonflies...big ones..4" long at least....which is weird because I always thought anywhere they live mosquitoes do too. Maybe there is just so many the mosquitoes don't have a chance. I like dragonflies.....

The constant sea breeze keeps the bugs away at the coast. They come back when it dies and the sun is low.

I always chuckled to myself when an inlander bought a beach house and installed screening to their pourch. No need, and the screens just blow out.

[PonoBill]

Yikes...

One of the really nice things about moving last year....no mosquitoes...no biting flies....we can sit outside at dusk and not get a single bite. Our old place you would lose a pint of blood doing that. It's amazing how much nicer it makes things when you don't need OFF, citronella candles, and screens to sit in the backyard. Only thing we have in abundance is dragonflies...big ones..4" long at least....which is weird because I always thought anywhere they live mosquitoes do too. Maybe there is just so many the mosquitoes don't have a chance. I like dragonflies.....

Predator/prey cycles. If your dragonfly population can't get enough bugs they'll decline, the bug population will rise, and the dragonflies will do well again. I love to watch them catch and eat bugs in midair. Lots of times they flip upside down and clip off the wings and legs. Pure predators--the bugs have to be moving for them to eat it. A pair of low power binoculars and some patience and you get to watch a real dogfight. Bats are equally cool, though they don't bother much with mosquitoes--too small. Hell on flies though, or as Zack calls them, "sky raisins". Dumb dog gets stung all over leaping into the lavender after bees (Jalapeno Sky Raisins).

[Weasels wake]

Yikes...

One of the really nice things about moving last year....no mosquitoes...no biting flies....we can sit outside at dusk and not get a single bite. Our old place you would lose a pint of blood doing that. It's amazing how much nicer it makes things when you don't need OFF, citronella candles, and screens to sit in the backyard. Only thing we have in abundance is dragonflies...big ones..4" long at least....which is weird because I always thought anywhere they live mosquitoes do too. Maybe there is just so many the mosquitoes don't have a chance. I like dragonflies.....

Me too, but not until I was about 9, before that one of my delinquent cousins told me they will sew your eyelids shut. 

[PonoBill]

Me too, only I think it was my mother that told me that. Mom liked to mess with our dinky little heads--or my huge one. They were frequently called Darning Needles or the Devil's Darning needle and were supposed to stitch fingers and toes together or the lips or eyelids of miscreant women and children. Of course, they're harmless unless you're a mosquito, but I remember people swatting them as dangerous.

[stoneaxe]

I thought it was the sea breeze at 1st but even when there is no wind there are still none. And it's not acting very cyclic...we've only been here 2 summers but the dragonflies haven't dropped at all in population. I think they get enough other stuff, flies, moths, etc to keep them plentiful and any mosqitoes that show up get devoured quickly. I had a leak in a hose and a small puddle formed. A bunch of small flies of some type swarmed out of it....100's of dragonflies made short work of them. Not sure if google photos vid will embed but here's the link. Cooper's hawk screaming in the woods....noisy bastards nest right behind the house.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pgHXURzrp7H6Yq1v7

[PonoBill]

Holy shit! That's a lot of dragonflies. Yes, you wouldn't have any mosquitoes, or anything smaller than a bumblebee for longer than ten seconds with a flock like that. 100 mosquitoes per day times 100 dragonflies (probably thousands really given how many showed up for that brief snack)=10,000 mosquitos a day. You've got your own air force.

[stoneaxe]

Sue and I were eating lunch on the deck, beautiful calm warm sunny day. I sudden breeze hit the massive hedge between us and the neighbor and (at a guess) no fewer than 500 dragonflies came swarming out of it and starting flying over the house. All summer there are at least 10-20 patrolling the backyard at any time. I've taught Aria that if you stay still and hold your finger up they'll land on a finger (patience required). Last weekend we took her apple picking, she and I took the hayride and as we were sitting in the wagon a dragonfly was buzzing around...she put her finger up and it landed...everyone near us freaked out....

[PabstSUP]

We get pretty monster-size tiger mosquitoes by us along with the regular kind as we live on a Barrier island off of Long Island. The Tigers can bite through a shirt so I tend to have to double-up with another layer when I'm doing any kind of yard work in the Summer.  Love the dragonflies but we certainly don't have enough of them. They tend to do aerial spraying to cut down on mosquito larvae in the salt marsh next to our house but our belief is that just kills all the bugs including the good ones like dragonflies. We're also trying to encourage bats to nest with bat boxes without much luck so far. They supposedly can eat several thousand bugs a night. 

[stoneaxe]

Bats have been decimated by a fungal disease. We used to have a lot at our old house. I've had bat houses for years. Numbers are way way down.

Pabst...there is some slight evidence that guano will help attract them...1st you need to make sure the house and location meets the criteria that works best for them. A small difference in location can mean success or failure. Good details here on what works.
http://www.batcon.org/resources/media-education/bats-magazine/bat_article/574
and the current best practice for design.
http://www.batcon.org/resources/media-education/bats-magazine/bat_article/578