We have seen birds eating fruits, vegetables, insects, and other foods many times. But mosquitoes are also in your backyards, and you might have a question: Do birds eat mosquitoes?
The straightforward answer to this question is that birds eat mosquitoes, do not hesitate before eating mosquitoes, and usually prey on mosquito larvae and adult mosquitoes.
Birds usually eat mosquitoes as their food. You can attract birds to your backyards if you have a lot of mosquitoes in your backyards.
Table of Contents:
- Do Birds Like Mosquitoes?
- Why Do Birds Eat Mosquitoes?
- How To Attract Birds That Eat Mosquitoes?
- Do All Birds Eat Mosquitoes?
- What Kind of Birds Eat Mosquitoes
- Which Bird Eats The Most Mosquitoes?
- Do Hummingbirds Eat Mosquitoes?
- Do Robins Eat Mosquitoes?
- Do Birds Eat Dead Mosquitoes?
- Do Mosquitoes Attack Birds?
- Do Birds Keep Mosquitoes Away?
- Last Words
Do Birds Like Mosquitoes?
Yes, many species of birds like to eat mosquitoes, and these birds commonly eat both aquatic and adult stages.
However, some mosquitoes carry parasites or infectious viruses that may cause illness in the birds. But this does not stop a bird from eating mosquitoes.
Why Do Birds Eat Mosquitoes?
Birds eat mosquitoes because the amount of struggle they have to eat mosquitoes is less than birds eating bees. Mosquitoes are almost everywhere, especially in the evening.
Birds fly around them, catch them, and then feed on them. For all this, birds have to use only their energy. Birds can eat a lot of mosquitoes in a day, but the exact amount is not known yet.
Usually, birds eat only adult and aquatic mosquitoes, and they work as natural mosquito killers and can eat thousands.
Do Birds Eat Spiders?
For some bird species, mosquitoes are the most important part of their feed, and only at the time when mosquitoes are available because they are not present for the entire year.
They are mostly not available in winter, but they are seen in large numbers during the summer, especially in the evening.
How To Attract Birds That Eat Mosquitoes?
Attracting birds that eat mosquitoes is a wonderful thing to do. As we know, many birds love to eat mosquitoes, and even they can eat dozens in a single day. It helps us to reduce their numbers and sleepless nights.
Some birds like purple margins, robins, barn swallows, chickadees, and nuthatches are all perfectly eating mosquitoes.
There are seven ways to attract mosquito-eating birds given below.
1. Provide Fresh Water
Always provide fresh water to attract birds, whether in the form of a fountain, birdbath or maybe bubbling water, where we need to attract birds. Especially in summer, they will attract them on hot days, and they certainly come back to their likely place.
2. Use The Multiple Feeder’s Methods
Install many space feeders in the garden and not just one. It is because the birds visit all the garden areas and not just one side since mosquitoes are everywhere in the garden.
For favorable conditions, be creative with space feeders in different corners of the garden, and these feeders must be located in upper and lower spaces for more bird priority. Always add those foods or seeds that birds like to eat.
3. Seeds
Add a lot of varieties of seeds in the feeder space so that a wide range of birds attract and rush toward the garden. So, a wide accumulation of birds is the best strategy to get rid of mosquitoes.
4. Provide Plenty of Ground Cover
Low shrubs and covered grounds help the birds protect themselves, so birds feel protected in a garden.
Due to this technique, low shrubs, and covered planting ground, will attract more birds, and they will feel safe.
More birds will be attracted when the area is covered and has short shrubs. It provides shade on hot days and contributes to cover during storms. In summer, shade is provided to that sector on hot days, and in storms, situations provide an insulating effect.
5. Put Out Plenty of Accommodation
Another best method to attract birds is to spend money on making birdhouses and place them on different points in the garden.
One more thing, these houses have vibrant colors to attract birds. Place the bird’s houses in different spots in the garden to cover up the widest area by the feeders. By this method, the birds spread out in the whole locality and don’t stick to any single area.
6. Keep Cats Indoors
If there are cats in your targeted area, you must keep them away from that area to attract more mosquitoes-eating birds because the birds will come when they navigate the apparent area.
If cats roam outside the garden, supervise them and make sure their outside visit must be precise. Do birds eat worms?
7. Practice & Patience
One most important things is to have more patience. As described earlier, the birds may not come quickly, as it takes time. But give them a week or more to get attracted to the source of food and houses for birds.
If a few of them reach there and get food and resting points, the others will follow them immediately. So be persistent, and once a bird-friendly area is organized, more birds will get attracted and visit the site.
Do All Birds Eat Mosquitoes?
Yes, almost every bird eats mosquitoes. Various types of birds like songbirds, warblers, and swallows eat mosquitoes. If you want to decrease the mosquito population in your backyard, then place something at that place that attracts birds.
They will come to their feed on the food and also remove mosquitoes by eating them. Not only garden birds but wild birds also add mosquitoes to their diet.
The major wild bird species include martins, ducks, geese, waterfowls, and barn swallows. Not only this, but some other types of migratory songbirds also eat mosquitoes.
Some other birds like waterfowl (terns, geese, ducks) and martins also eat mosquitoes. The bird predators eat both aquatic and adult mosquitoes. Do birds eat apples?
Almost all birds mentioned above fly all day to eat mosquitoes. They fly until the day ends and the evening starts. At that time, mosquitoes come out, and then birds feed on them. Mosquitoes fly in the garden and the backyard.
Birds snatch and feed on them, but mosquitoes are not available all over the year. Birds can eat them only in a certain part of the day, in the morning and evening. So, they are not a major source of food for all birds.
What Kind of Birds Eat Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes eating birds comprise many different species of birds, including warblers, songbirds, and swallows. On flights, these birds eat all day. Establishing an area outside your house helps the birds keep down the mosquito population.
However, these birds do not only eat mosquitoes because mosquitoes are a small portion of their diet. The mosquitoes-eating birds are listed below.
What Birds Eat Ants?
Purple Martins
The most important and discussed birds for eating mosquitoes are known as purple martins. The flying height of purple martins is 160-500 feet high, almost 50-150 meters.
Because of this height, a tiny portion of mosquitoes becomes part of their diet. So, a widespread rumor about mosquitoes eating birds is that a bird can eat up to 2000 mosquitoes in a day.
Purple Martin eats mosquitoes but does not contribute to decreasing the mosquito population in that area. These birds are the biggest in the swallow family, so they are commonly known as reproductive mosquito consumers.
Their diet consists of various flying insects. They consume them daily according to their body’s average weight.
Barn Swallows
Barn Swallows, just like the Purple Martin, also eat mosquitoes. Due to their jump and dive, they capture their prey confidently and are known as birds having elegant flight patterns.
Unlike other birds, the barn swallow catches one prey at a time, not more than one. That’s why known as aerial acrobatics. They usually eat on lower heights than purple margins.
However, swallows eat much more on average than their body weight daily as compared to mosquitoes are very small. According to their daily requirements other than mosquitoes, they feed on larger insects, for example, dragonflies, flying ants, flies, grasshoppers, moths, Beetles, etc.
Writing for the Flathead Audubon Society, Linda deKort states that “…insects make up 99.8 percent of the swallow’s diet”. In short, a single Barn Swallow can eat up to 60 insects per hour or an average of 850 per day.
Warblers
They eat many other insects and mosquitoes. Warblers can migrate in the summer and autumn seasons, and they like to live in woody areas. Many birds will eat mosquitoes. They eat both stages of mosquitoes, larvae, and adult stages.
Red-eyed Vireos, ducks, geese, bats, hummingbirds, downy woodpeckers, housewares, and black pool warblers are birds that eat mosquitoes in small volumes.
Which Bird Eats The Most Mosquitoes?
Almost all birds eat mosquitoes, but the group that eats the most are waterfowl, migratory swallows, and songbirds.
Also, the species of birds that eat the most mosquitoes are ducks, terns, geese, Baltimore orioles, eastern phoebes, eastern bluebirds, yellow warblers, downy woodpeckers, chirping sparrows, red-eyed vireos, and purple martins (also known as martins).
Martin birds are also known as purple martins, and yes, they do eat mosquitoes. These birds have a very insectivorous diet, meaning they can eat flying insects like flies, gnats, moths, and mosquitoes.
In the swallow family, martin birds are the biggest birds. These birds are considered to be the highest mosquito consumer. The mosquito is a very important part of the martin bird’s diet.
Not just mosquitoes but some other flying insects are also included in the martin bird’s diet. They are flying insects, including mosquitoes, when flying in the air. But, they are not limited to mosquitoes only. Martin birds can also eat other things like some fruits etc.
According to research, martin birds can eat almost 2000 mosquitoes in a day. When martin birds feed on mosquitoes, they fly above these flying insects and spend most of their time flying higher than these mosquitoes.
But, they cannot eat them in a considerable amount to make it a big meal. When many mosquitoes come out in the twilight hour, then martin birds fly near the ground to catch and feed on them.
They can eat mosquitoes, but they have not considered an excellent source to control the mosquito population in your garden and backyard.
Do Hummingbirds Eat Mosquitoes?
Yes, hummingbirds do eat mosquitoes. They have the skills to catch and then eat the mosquitoes and are equipped with high skills in grabbing them. A nectar-based diet is usually their main focus, but they also eat flying insects like mosquitoes.
They can grab and then eat these mosquitoes in mid-air. You will see these hummingbirds zooming in your garden at a very high speed (lightning speed). Sometimes they are just going somewhere and sometimes they are in search of food.
While looking for food, if they see mosquitoes in the air, they can immediately grab and then feed on them on the spot. They will also wander into your garden or your backyard to grab some mosquitoes.
Sometimes, when they feed on flower nectar, they also grab and eat two or more mosquitoes in your garden or the backyard. Hummingbirds are playing a good role in benefiting our local ecosystem by eating mosquitoes present in the air.
Do Robins Eat Mosquitoes?
Yes, robins eat mosquitoes and several insects. But they mainly like mealworms and mosquitoes.
In summer and spring, these birds feed on invertebrates (e.g., mosquitoes) in the garden because they are numerous. They move towards mosquitoes, insects, spiders, and worms to grab and eat them. In winter, the robin eats fruits, especially berries, to fulfill its hunger.
Baby robins born helpless are known as altricial birds. Baby robin’s parents feed them for almost 2 weeks. In the first 5 days, parents give them partially digested food in their baby’s mouth.
After a few weeks, they are strong enough to eat solid food. Their parents give them earthworms but in small chunks. As they learned how to swallow, their parents feed them whole worms, mosquitoes, and other insects.
Do Birds Eat Dead Mosquitoes?
The majority of mosquitoes-eating birds will hunt and eat live mosquitoes, but few bird species can also eat dead mosquitoes. It depends on the type of mosquitoes available for birds. But they do not leave a chance to eat them.
Do Mosquitoes Attack Birds?
Eating mosquitoes is not bad for birds, and not all mosquitoes can cause health issues in them. Mosquitoes that carry germs of a disease can cause health problems in birds. And it happens because mosquitoes bite various birds, animals, and humans.
They feed on their blood. Sometimes they bite and get blood that is not good for birds, and when the bird eats them, they get infected and become ill.
The most common disease caused after eating such types of mosquitoes is fowlpox. This is a poultry disease and is different from chickenpox, which usually affects humans.
The main symptoms of this disease (fowlpox) are damaged or any abnormal change in the bird’s featherless parts of the body. These parts include the eyes, the area around the beak, ear lobes, wattles, and combs.
A mosquito can keep this virus, or you can say the disease in them for almost one month after feeding on an infected bird. And then these mosquitoes become the reason for spreading this disease from one bird to another.
This disease affects all birds. The growth of young birds stops, and laying birds see a drastic decrease in their egg production. A bird suffering from an oral or respiratory infection will have difficulty eating and breathing after being affected with fowl pox.
Do Birds Keep Mosquitoes Away?
Many birds like martins, geese, ducks, etc., eat mosquitoes. They dive on their prey mosquitoes, catch them in aerial acrobatics and then eat them. These birds will help you to keep mosquitoes away from your backyards.
A single bird can catch and eat only one mosquito on the spot at a time. Those birds that eat mosquitoes eat them in the daytime when flying.
Last Words
There are many predators of mosquitoes, and birds are also one of them. Also, birds eat mosquitoes, and there is also a whole category of mosquitoes eating birds. A large number of mosquitoes can trouble the beauty of your lawn or backyard.
Birds are very selective when it comes to eating food for them, and they usually eat anything suitable for them. Mosquitoes are a problematic thing for many people, especially in the evening. You can keep mosquitoes away from your backyards by attracting birds.
Birds that will eat mosquitoes are discussed above who love to eat mosquitoes, as they can help you clean your garden or backyard from mosquitoes.
Also, birds can be a good option to get rid of mosquitoes in your backyard. Some popular birds that eat them are also mentioned above, and this will help you to know what birds will be better for this.
Follow me on
Birdskeeping is supported by its readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Also, as an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases without costing you extra.
