How much I hate it that Fort Worth has been spraying Arcadia Trail Park for Mosquitoes who may be carrying West Nile Virus

We went to the north part of the park on October 5th and saw many signs warning of West Nile Virus and found out that the city planned to spray the area for three consecutive nights from 10 PM to 2 AM, the 5th, 6th, and 7th. Consequently we stayed away from that end of the park for the next few days. On the 5th, however, there were many Dragons, Damsels, butterflies and other insects in that part of the park. Apparently they drove trucks down close to the creek and sprayed. I did not think they were going to do the southern part of the park below Basswood Blvd but I think they sprayed within a half mile of every sign they had posted which took them into the southern part as well. Today we walked the southern part and there were dead or dying insects along the beginning part of the trail and saw no dragons or damsels or butterflies. Only saw one dragon and a couple damsels when we got to the extreme southern end of the park. I used to be so proud of Fort Worth when Dallas was doing this ridiculous spraying and Fort Worth did not. Now so much panic has been stirred up that Fort Worth has succumb to the pressure and is killing off the natural predators of the mosquitoes. I took pictures today of some of the dead insects. Maybe I will post them later, just makes me so angry and frustrated.

Posted on 09 October, 2015 02:30 by taogirl taogirl

Observations

Photos / Sounds

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed.

Photos / Sounds

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed. Some of these had been run over by cyclist so are hard for me to ID.

Photos / Sounds

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed. Some of these had been run over by cyclist so are hard for me to ID.

Photos / Sounds

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed. Some of these had been run over by cyclist so are hard for me to ID.

Photos / Sounds

What

Rough Stink Bugs (Genus Brochymena)

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed. Some of these had been run over by cyclist so are hard for me to ID.

Photos / Sounds

What

Northern Leaf-footed Bug (Leptoglossus oppositus)

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed. Some of these had been run over by cyclist so are hard for me to ID.

Photos / Sounds

What

Stink Bugs (Family Pentatomidae)

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed. Some of these had been run over by cyclist so are hard for me to ID.

Photos / Sounds

What

Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 8, 2015

Description

I am going to be putting up several insects that were all dead within a few feet of each other on the trail. This was found after the area near the park was sprayed for West Nile Mosquitoes for three nights in a row from 10 PM to 2 AM. I am suspecting that these showed up on the trail because they are active near it but those insects that were roosting in trees died where they were and won't be noticed. Some of these had been run over by cyclist so are hard for me to ID.

Photos / Sounds

What

Murky Ground Beetle (Harpalus caliginosus)

Observer

taogirl

Date

October 9, 2015

Description

I went to the north end of the park today to see if there was as much evidence of insect death after the mosquito spraying as there was at the south end. These four pictures are actually four different beetles but I think they are all the same kind and were within a few feet of each other.

Comments

I hate this journal entry. :-/

No, not like that -- I just hate that this fear drives us to do things that don't even work. Ugh.

PLEASE do post the images of dead insects. I want to see the diversity that this pesticide targets...

Posted by sambiology over 8 years ago

I will but I think that the diversity is hidden because the odonata and butterflies would have been roosting in areas where we would not see them fall. Only the things that were crawling in the grass near the path would show up easily.

Posted by taogirl over 8 years ago

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