ICYMI: N. Hempstead’s New Residents Ready to Devour the Mosquito Population

The Town of North Hempstead is combating disease-carrying mosquitoes in a unique and environmentally-friendly way.

Welcome your new neighbors to the community: insect-eating bats.

If you didn’t know, bats consider mosquitoes a delicious treat and, unlike pesticides, they aren't bad for the environment.

“Pesticide use kills beneficial insects, birds and other life, as well as the insects they target, and poisons our environment,” Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said in a press release. “Bat boxes provide an ecologically safe approach to controlling mosquitoes and other pests in our parks.”

The Town currently has bat boxes set up at Manorhaven Beach Park, Harbor Links Golf Course, Clark Botanic Garden, Plandome Pond Park, Whitney Pond Park and the Hempstead Harbor Trail. The Town also plans to add many more boxes with the help of Boy Scouts who are building the boxes as part of their Eagle Scout project.

Manhasset teen Yianni Biniaris is working with the Parks and Recreation Department to install more bat houses as part of his Eagle Scout Project for Troop 71. He’s focusing on the areas with still waters and small streams where mosquitoes are typically found, including Leeds Pond, Plandome Pond and Harbor Links Golf Course.

Kevin Braun, the Town’s Environmental Control Specialist, says the bug-eating bats are likely to help the mosquito problem.

“The effectiveness is hard to quantify, but we know that bats eat flying insects, including mosquitoes, so it is not a great leap of faith to say that more bat boxes, means more bats and less mosquitoes,” he said.
Other State Parks, including Hither Hills in Montauk, have bat boxes located outside the bathroom since the lights usually attract flying insects.

“We know that it works because of the myriad of trials around the country where these boxes are in place and bats are busy eating their way through the bugs,” said park ranger Eric Powers, host of North Hempstead TV’s nature show 'Off The Trail.' “We must create the opportunity for the bats to live and exist so that they can eat their way through the mosquito population.”

To continue with eradicating mosquitoes in an environmentally-friendly way, the Town is also using essential oils, such as rosemary, citronella and insecticidal soaps to spray for pests.

For more information on the Town’s pest-control efforts, call 311.

Images via TONH

• Supervisor Judi Bosworth looks over a bat box made by Boy Scout Yianni Biniaris.
• From left are Parks Commissioner Jill Weber, Supervisor Judi Bosworth and NHTV host Ranger Eric Powers look at a sample of a brown bat.
• Supervisor Judi Boswort, Ranger Eric Powers and Boy Scout Yianni Biniaris look at a sample of a brown bat.