Lack of flying insects. What happened?

[Doug Martin - PA]

Remember when you would drive the highway and the front of your car would get splattered with insects?

Remember when you would have to take your summer meal indoors because of bugs landing on your food?

Well in PA right now that is not a problem. The problem is there are not enough insects for the Martins to feed their young. Runts are a major issue this year. Hatch rates are down. So are the numbers of nesting pairs at most all the colonies near me. This is after a record year of fledgings last year.

We had a later nesting season than normal due to very cold nights in May. But right now my birds are really struggling to feed the young. When you go outside there are few insects to see flying.... anywhere.

In the last week we have had a good bit of rain and we also had several days of heavy smoke in the air from what they call the Canadian wildfires. The air seemed totally toxic for days. At one point you could barely see a few hundred feet. Eyes burned and it was hard to breath. Now we are left with a void of insects.

The only thing I can do is keep filling the bed and breakfast with water soaked freeze dried mealworms. The Martins empty the trays in minutes running them back to the young as fast as they can. So I fill it again.

This is not natural....or normal, something is not right around here. Seems last year insect populations were way down too. Not sure what others are experiencing but we don't have many insects to speak of in Western PA. The Martins are paying the price. As are other insect eating birds.

It is sad to see.

Doug

[John Miller]

Doug I don't know the answers, but I'm concerned about whether there is any nutrition in freeze dried meal worms. Suggest ordering live crickets, freeze them and then put out on the tray. I have not ordered for a few years; perhaps someone here has a link to a good vendor. You should be able to get them overnight.

[C.C.Martins]

You can try:
Flukers farms
Armstrongs crickets
Critter depot

All have superworms and large crickets. Dried meal worms lack the nutrients they need.

[Martintown33]

Very sorry to hear this… very hard situation to have to be in.. but yes, mealworms don’t have much nutrition.. Fluker Farms online, has good prices on live crickets, and will overnight… load up those trays and hope it all works out…
Rob

[Doug Martin - PA]

Thanks for your replies.

I have gone through almost 7000 crickets amd about 10lbs of freeze dried mealworms this year. Lost a minimal amount of birds earlier in the season compared to other sites which had heavy losses.

I mix mealworms with Nekton II powder to boost nutrition. I have written about this in the past.

I appreciate your concerns however. Thank you.

The question i have is where all the natural insects are? Something seems wrong there.

As does all of Northern Canada on fire. Bad air quality. Can't be good.

Doug

[scottfreidhof]

Sounds like the air quality was awful. Maybe bad enough to reduce insect populations. Would be interesting to hear some insight from the entomology department or extension at Penn State about smoke effects on insects. I wonder too if there was aerial spraying for Gypsy moths (now renamed spongy moths) this spring in your area. I don't think GypChek affects other insects when applied aerially to the forest canopy. The active ingredient is a virus derived from Gypsy moths themselves as I understand. Please let us know if you can find some answers for the lack of insects. We in other states might be in the same situation at some point in the future.

[Hanover Bill]

Hi Doug;

It is a strange year. Even my garden seems to be paying the price. Plants are beautiful, but they are not bearing like they should. I just picked my first zuchhini yesterday, and usually I have bushels of them by now. I have been blaming it on the smoke from the wild fires, I think it is blocking enough sunlight off to make a difference. Itcould be having an effect on the insect population also. I have had to feed a couple of times throughout the season. Usually once that initial cold snap is over that's the end of the supplemental feeding, but not this year.

Hanover Bill.

[paule]

Remember when you would drive the highway and the front of your car would get splattered with insects?

Remember when you would have to take your summer meal indoors because of bugs landing on your food?

Well in PA right now that is not a problem. The problem is there are not enough insects for the Martins to feed their young. Runts are a major issue this year. Hatch rates are down. So are the numbers of nesting pairs at most all the colonies near me. This is after a record year of fledgings last year.

We had a later nesting season than normal due to very cold nights in May. But right now my birds are really struggling to feed the young. When you go outside there are few insects to see flying.... anywhere.

In the last week we have had a good bit of rain and we also had several days of heavy smoke in the air from what they call the Canadian wildfires. The air seemed totally toxic for days. At one point you could barely see a few hundred feet. Eyes burned and it was hard to breath. Now we are left with a void of insects.

The only thing I can do is keep filling the bed and breakfast with water soaked freeze dried mealworms. The Martins empty the trays in minutes running them back to the young as fast as they can. So I fill it again.

This is not natural....or normal, something is not right around here. Seems last year insect populations were way down too. Not sure what others are experiencing but we don't have many insects to speak of in Western PA. The Martins are paying the price. As are other insect eating birds.

It is sad to see.

Doug

Doug,
Here in Iowa many years ago we used to clean windshields 3 times a day. Now genetically modified corn keeps the European corn borer moth from finding the corn. We no longer have any of the little windshield moths to deal with. Nor do the martins. Once a great food source for the martins I'm sure. Other insects are also on the decline due to what I guess is the farmers doing a good job in using pesticides on their crops in what is primarily a farming community we live in. The county we live in has one lake and that is 10 miles away. We do have a couple of sand pits as well as a small stream. Not much water to supply what is needed to feed growing young martins. Supplemental feeding has become necessary in recent years until the dragon fly hatch is on. The Canadian smoke has been hard on my wife who suffers from asthma and I suffer from bad lungs due to polio. I can also see this affecting the martins as well as the insects they eat. Upon checking out my fellow landlords this morning I did not see many martins or fledglings hanging out. Our colony on the other hand is loaded with activity. I have not been successful convincing people on supplemental feeding. They mostly are convinced to let nature take its course. As a child I remember seeing martins and their housing everywhere. Now I see 4 colonies. We have had good success with an egg, mealworm and Nexton "I" mixture you and I have talked about before. A young poet and musician once wrote: "For the times, they are a-changin".
Paul

[Spiderman]

Canadian smoke has definitely been an issue this year in the northern half of the Country.

I think in some situations as our Colonies grow and thrive the Martin population exceeds the insects available in the local area.
The Martins have to keep expanding their range to find suitable insects to feed their young.