Hi All,
Does anyone know of actual scientific studies of the mosquito consumption of
birds? One reference I found indicates that claims for the beneficial
effects of birds are artificially inflated. For example, if a Purple Martin
is observed to eat 10 mosquitoes in a minute, then the prediction is that it
would eat 600(10x60) mosquitoes in an hour. However, the assumption is that
the Purple Martin feeds at a continous rate for the entire hour may not be
true. And the further extrapolation to a day of continuous feeding may be
false as well.
If anyone knows of similar studies of bats, they would also be much
appreciated.
Gail Spitler
Johnsons Landing, BC
spitler at wkpowerlink.com