Colin Purrington

@colinpurrington

Nature pics with Alt Text. Swarthmore, PA, USA.

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Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· 22d

Pest Proof is using AI-generated images and videos to visually display, falsely, that the trap is highly effective. This one encourages people to zoom in to confirm that the mosquitoes are all females and that they have the correct number of legs (they don't). Brazenly wrong, but people are buying.

Screenshot of an that shows fake mosquitoes inside an amber liquid. "Zoom in. Every one of those was a female. Every female was up to 300 eggs. Only females bite - they need blood protein to produce eggs. A single female lays 100-300 eggs per blood meal and up to 3,000 in her lifetime."

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· 23d

I made a mosquito trap that combines the traditional Mosquito-Dunk approach (for killing larvae) with a funnel & clear dome that prevents the gravid females from escaping. Still testing but seems to work. Will post design details on my blog. You just need a Dremel tool and a glue gun. #mosquitoes

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· 23d

I really hate plastic buckets that collect water even when they are stored upside-down. I end up drilling drainage holes along the perimeter. #mosquitoes

Blue recycling bucket that is upside down but that has water in the concave rim.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· 23d

Another mosquito-control scam involving yeast and sugar has entered the market. It's identical to Tougher Than Tom's Mosquito TNT but has a solar-powered light, presumably to better attract gullible Americans. #mosquitoes

Screenshot of sales page for BiteShield Mosquito Trap Set. "Why mosquitoes can't resist BioLure Powder" is main title, but there are lots of smaller claims on the page, too. E.g., "Mosquitoes hunt CO2 not you."

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· 25d

Pop up asking for email address before showing video.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· 25d

My interest in the above was prompted by a recent New York Times article that purported to be about how bats eat mosquitoes. Spoiler alert: article was about something else. [gift link] #bats #mosquitoes www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/n...

Newspaper article with 6 photographs of bats and the headline, "They live all around us, and they eat mosquitoes."

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· 29d

Common liverwort with gemma cups. #liverworts #plants #botany

Flat, branching plant covered with small urns that contain green, lentil-shaped objects.

Green cup-like structure containing a dozen or so wafer-like green objects that are glistening with moisture from a recent rain.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 16

Spider web with dried slug mucus. 🌿 #slugs #spiders #iridescence

Slightly messy spider web covered with dried slug trails that are iridescent.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 12

Tougher Than Tom is using AI-doctored ads to convince people that Mosquito TNTs attract and kill mosquitoes (they don't). I'm hoping the EPA and state regulatory agencies will view these ads as violations of FIFRA. You can't make false or misleading claims about efficacy. #ai #mosquitoes #pesticide

Screenshot from a video showing a group of carefree white people sitting in a yard under a hanging, liquid-filled container mobbed with mosquitoes.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 9

I'm just going to leave this here.

Large, elongate, menacing upper skulls mounted on a yellow wall around a plaque that says, "Rancho La Brea is widely known for its incredibly rich fossil deposits. These 404 Dire Wolf skulls represent only a portion of the more than 1600 wolves whose remains have been found here. It is thought that packs of Dire Wolves attempted to feed on animals trapped in the asphalt and became mired themselves. You can see that they are not all exactly alike in either size or shape. Research on these minor differences is sure to yield information about wolf evolution and population structure."

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 8

One of the many rafts of mosquito eggs that I've found in my mini pond. Probably Culex. #mosquitoes

Approximately 100 cigar-shaped mosquito eggs attached to each other to form an oblong raft. Situated on a Canadian dime for scale.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 7

Got mobbed by these along the banks of the Mississippi River in Vacherie, Louisiana, last month. I think it might be a dark ricefield mosquito (Psorophora columbiae). The species can become so numerous after a flood that cows can die from exsanguination. #mosquitoes #louisiana

Mosquito with blood-filled abdomen on pale, unshaven leg.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 7

Spikes on a door threshold. Royal Street, New Orleans. #NewOrleans #louisiana #architecture

Two metal strips each with 10 teardrop finials affixed to a doorway so that nobody can stand or sit.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 6

Run, don't walk. @tarpits.org closes July 7th. #museum #paleontology

View of grassy area near La Brea pit #91. Sign in front reads, "please do wade in the stream," which is very, very good advice around tar pits.

Three saber-tooth tiger skulls mounted on a wall.

Skeleton of a Harlan's ground sloth. Not positive of the size of this one but they can be 10 feet tall.

Chalkboard with 2017 dig details at La Brea Tar Pits research area #23. "We have already excavated to 15 feet in the middle of this pit. We estimate there may be up to 5 more feet of fossils!" "What did we find last season? Lots small birds, snakes, lizards." "The most common large animal from this pit is Smilodon fatalis (saber-toothed cat)."

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jul 6

Mexican pygmy grasshopper (Clypeotettix mexicanus). They graze on mats of stranded algae, are apparently good swimmers, and are often found partially submerged. Banks of the Mississippi River, Vacherie, Louisiana. #grasshoppers #insects #tetrigidae #louisiana #nature

Compact, mottled-brown grasshopper with very short antennae.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jun 16

If anyone is looking for the perfect housewarming gift. #mosquitoes #bti

Smiling woman hugging another woman and holding a vase of sunflowers she just received as a gift. A man is awkwardly waiting nearby to present his gift, an orange bucket labeled, "Bti honeypot trap," that has a package of donut-shaped mosquito dunks sticking out.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jun 8

Are there any competitors to Mosquito Dunks in the United States? Seems like lower prices might encourage more people to make mosquito-killing buckets. #mosquitoes #bti

Packages of Mosquito Bits ($13.99) and Mosquito Dunks ($8.99 for two) on sale at garden center.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Jun 2

If anyone needs a handout on using Mosquito Dunks to make mosquito traps, I added a 2-page PDF to my blog post on the topic. Would be a perfect insert for buckets that you gift to your neighbors. #mosquitoes colinpurrington.com/2024/08/bti-...

Control mosquitoes with cheap DIY bucket-trap

An easy way to kill thousands of mosquitoes each summer is to set out a container of water, add a handful of leaves or hay, then drop in 1/4 of a Mosquito Dunk (Summit Responsible Solutions, Maryland), a compressed, shelf-stable form of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (“Bti”) that kills larvae. Pregnant females will oviposit onto the water surface as well as onto the sides of the container and when the larvae begin to feed they’ll be killed by the toxins produced by the bacteria. Just add a fresh chunk of Mosquito Dunk every three weeks to ensure the system is operating.
Tips

Put a reminder on your phone AND a wall calendar to add fresh Mosquito Dunk crumbles every 3 weeks. If you are likely to forget do not even set up the buckets in the first place. You don’t want to make the problem worse for you and your neighbors.
Inspect your buckets every several days to confirm the absence of mosquito larvae (top right). If present, add a fresh piece of Mosquito Dunk.
If you see pupae (bottom right) you need to dump and start over or add some fast-acting Mosquito Bits (same company).
If you’re traveling for more than three weeks during the summer, dump out your buckets and start over when you return.

Cover the container with chicken wire or netting to prevent birds and chipmunks from drowning. You can also use hydroponic lids that have a built-in basket. Or drill multiple, 1″ holes in the bucket lid. If you have toddlers around and are using 5-gallon buckets, you cannot skip the screening or lid (drowning risk).
Add a long stick that can fit through the mesh so that innocent insects that fall into the water have a way to crawl back out.
Add a white yogurt lid so that you can more easily see whether there are larvae wriggling around. Cut the rim off the lid so that it sinks a few mm lower.
Deploy multiple traps. E.g., six for a 1/4-acre yard. More is better in part because some mosquito species (e.g., Aedes) exhibit skip-oviposition behavior, leaving just a few eggs and then flying off in search of more sites.
Set traps out in early spring so that the leaves have time to decompose and become attractive to female mosquitoes.
Site near vegetation or at the bases of larger trees. Avoid areas that get a lot of direct sunlight.
Purge your yard of all other objects that might retain stagnant water so that mosquitoes are forced to leave their eggs in the trap.
Make some for your neighbors.
Write a letter to your local paper encouraging residents to use Mosquito Dunks. The more people who use these traps the better.

Are they working?
To determine whether mosquitoes are ovipositing, look for egg rafts (image on top right) on the surface of the water. You can also check for the dark-colored eggs of Asian tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus) left in small clusters (lower image) on the edges of the container above the waterline. If there are eggs and no larvae, the Bti is doing its thing.

Safety
Bti toxins are completely nontoxic to mammals, birds, and all insects except mosquitoes, black flies, and fungus gnats.

Sources of Bti
If you can’t find Mosquito Dunks, search for any of the following: Biosolutions Bactive, Bonide Mosquito Beater Water Soluble Pouches, Bactimos …

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 29

The Amazon listing for the Spartan Mosquito Pro Tech asserts that the device ELIMINATES mosquitoes for weeks. In reality it kills no mosquitoes at all. 100% grift.

Table comparing Spartan Mosquito to traditional repellents.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 29

Part of the world's most expensive wallpaper, "Views of the American War of Independence," by Zuber & Cie (France). It takes the company an entire year to complete and uses 2,300 hand-carved wood blocks, most nearly 200-years-old. Fraunces Tavern Museum, NYC. #250th #revolution #history #art

Four high-ranking, well-dressed military men on horseback parading by an adoring, waving crowd of colonials in Boston Harbor, with boats flying American flags. The scene is slightly weathered and there are signs of seams connecting the different pieces of paper.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 28

While wasting time reading about duck decoys I found many references to an illustration from 1578 showing Native Americans using dried gourds to disguise themselves as rocks in a pond. When a bird landed they'd reach up and drown it, then attach to a belt. I have no idea whether any of this is true.

Old engraving depicting a dozen or so Native Americans in various stages of capturing geese. Some linger proudly around the edges with dead geese while others are in the pond, fully concealed by hollowed-out pumpkins fitted with eye-holes. You can see one unlucky goose being pulled down by an arm.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 28

Two of the 11 duck decoys found in 1924 inside Lovelock Cave (Nevada), sealed up approximately 2400 years ago by an earthquake. The one on the right resembles a canvasback (Aythya valisineria). Museum of the American Indian (Manhattan location). #ducks #archaeology

Duck models made from tule reed and cattail. The one on the right has white feathers secured with fine hemp cord.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 12

Thanks. This one really combines my interests.

Red circle labelled "wine" overlapping a green circle labelled "pest control".

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 12

"aromas of ripe red fruits such as plum and cherry, complemented by subtle notes of coffee and vanilla, indicative of its oak aging"

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 11

Place your bets. Which mosquito-killing bucket in my yard is going to have the most egg rafts? Oak leaves, straw, old log, beet skins. #mosquitoes

Black bucket half-filled with water and some dried oak leaves.

Black bucket half-filled with water and straw.

Black bucket half-filled with water and a small log with lots of crevices.

Black bucket half-filled with reddish water small bits of beet skins.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 11

Tempting to just sit on an overturned bucket in the pesticide aisle and talk to people about mosquito scams. #mosquitoes

Boxes of bug zappers and Spartan Mosquito Pro Techs on the bottom level of a shelf at Lowe's Home Improvement center.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· May 8

If you have mosquito-killing buckets with Mosquito Dunks, I highly recommend tossing in a white yogurt lid. They make it easy to confirm that no larvae are present (you should be checking). They also allow egg rafts to be seen, giving you a sense of how many mosquitoes are visiting. #mosquitoes

White yogurt lid floating in a dirty green bucket that also has a log rising up to the edge. There are two small black objects (rafts of mosquito eggs) floating inside the lid.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Apr 26

Managed to get temperature readings of my cat without her seeing the laser and going berserk.

Laser temperature probe reading 90 °F (93.2 °F max) on the part of a gray cat nearest to a wood stove.

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Mar 31

„Die dicke Katze passt nicht durch die kleine Tür.“ A little gem from the folks at Seedlang. #language #german #deutsch #katzen #cats

Colin Purrington@colinpurrington· Mar 30

I wish those lawn ads from pesticide companies were at least required to disclose what they spray and that the chemicals kill all sorts of arthropods, not just mosquitoes. Some mock-ups I made for a talk a few years ago. I also made a Butterfly Shield one, too, but can't find a copy.