DEAR JOAN: We now have these flies — for lack of information, we’re not sure what form — that fly in small swarms at about face degree in numerous components of our yard.
We now have canines and chickens, but they appear to have little interest in what they've to supply. We now have even put out fly attractant, which appear to draw different flies besides them.
Are you able to inform me what they're and the way greatest to make them disappear? They don’t appear to be a nuisance, like touchdown on you, but they're there.
Gary Roberts, San Jose
DEAR GARY: I went to an professional on this one — Steve Schutz, scientific program supervisor with the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Management District.
He says when you stay close to water, they could possibly be midges. In any other case, they're probably fungus gnats.
There are numerous kinds of midges, together with biting and blood-sucking ones. It will seem that you probably have midges, they're the non-biting ones and are merely the annoying sort. Midges are frequent in each a part of the land, so resistance is futile. In case you discover them on crops, you may attempt a horticultural oil spray to smother them, however in any other case, there isn't any great tool in opposition to them.
Fungus gnats are mainly innocent to people and crops, though they'll trigger some harm to seedlings. They could possibly be making an attempt to let you know that you just’re overwatering. The gnats are drawn to the fungus that grows in moist situations.
The explanation for the swarming is that they're in search of love. The males hover round in a gaggle, Schutz says, and compete to catch passing females, not in contrast to the scene at a bar on singles’ night time. The boys additionally choose a landmark the place the elite go to fulfill, often above a tree or bush, or a clearing within the timber.
They'll finally go away, however within the meantime, avert your eyes.
DEAR JOAN: We had child chickadees this yr, as now we have for a few years, in a hen home. A few years in the past I seen one thing was making the outlet bigger, so I glued a bit of wooden over the underside of the outlet. That labored for a few years.
This yr, in only a day, we seen one thing chewed the outlet bigger, facet to facet, and now all of the infants are gone. Do you might have any concept what it was? A rat? The jays had been very after they heard the infants. May they try this?
Carl Baeuerlen, Los Altos
DEAR CARL: I’m hoping the rationale the infants disappeared was as a result of they had been sufficiently old to fledge — depart the nest on their very own. Chickadees fledge when they're 3 weeks outdated.
In the event that they weren’t sufficiently old to fledge, then the animal that obtained them won't be the identical animal that made the outlet wider.
The 2 traditional suspects in instances the place the doorway gap has been enlarged are squirrels and woodpeckers. Each make modifications as a result of they’re focused on utilizing the nesting field themselves.
The most typical culprits for chick-napping are cats, home sparrows, home wrens, mice, raccoons, rats, snakes and starlings.
I’d advocate both getting a brand new field or changing the entrance. The doorway gap needs to be 1 1/8-inches throughout. It will enable the chickadees entry, however maintain out bigger intruders.
Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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