Airplane buzzing the bay
I'd lose my license back home for flying so close to occupied structures. Twice this guy has flown below my roof level, going alongside the building. Wouldn't worry me except it's obvious this is a very inexperienced flyer with marginal control. Pass after pass and here he comes again...
Airplane buzzing the bay
by ZihuaRob 
, Zihuatanejo, México, Monday, May 11, 2015, 09:41 (3826 days ago) @ Kevfra
I'd lose my license back home for flying so close to occupied structures. Twice this guy has flown below my roof level, going alongside the building. Wouldn't worry me except it's obvious this is a very inexperienced flyer with marginal control. Pass after pass and here he comes again...
It's a cropduster plane and he's spraying for the mosquitos that carry chikungunya. Kwitcherbitchin! 
Airplane buzzing the bay
They probably need to do it more. I hear of someone new having chikungunya every day. A friend of mine is in the hospital now with his year old son. Bad thing for anyone but worse for a little one.
Airplane buzzing the bay
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Monday, May 11, 2015, 11:15 (3826 days ago) @ LadyM in Zihua
They probably need to do it more. I hear of someone new having chikungunya every day. A friend of mine is in the hospital now with his year old son. Bad thing for anyone but worse for a little one.
Actually I believe it is worse for the elderly. It already killed one elderly person we know. But I agree they need to do it more.
In all my years here this is the first time I've ever seen a cropduster used to spray town with. I used to see this a lot on the barrier islands back in Florida, but Florida is flat and the areas being sprayed were wetlands.
However it's worth noting that there has been a general tendency of seeing more folks infected who live on the upper hillsides around the bay in the mostly invaded areas than anywhere else. These are the folks who have no city water supply (and are unlikely to ever get it) so they tend to keep water in garbage cans and other plastic containers. Just one more reason to get these folks off our hillsides and into more habitable zones where providing city services will be much more possible.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Monday, May 11, 2015, 12:17 (3826 days ago) @ Kevfra
Turns out this is a gift from the state government of Guerrero. Hmm. I wonder what they're spraying? I couldn't detect any scent in the air when they sprayed over our section of town, and I used to know a thing or two about pest control.
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by Gringo Viejo , Kansas/Zihuatanejo, Monday, May 11, 2015, 14:47 (3826 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
Remember the stuff the Feds supposedly spraying on pot fields in the sixties and severnties to posien those nasty old hippies? Seems to have affected my typping skills
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
No odor here in Madera either, but absolute tons of dead bugs.
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by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 13:05 (3825 days ago) @ jr
No odor here in Madera either, but absolute tons of dead bugs.
I hope you will photograph the kinds of insects being killed and send them to me. No one should be indiscriminately killing insects, but if they are then photos of the dead insects besides mosquitoes will serve as evidence because the state is committing a crime against nature that could have much larger repercussions.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by allen , Pacific Northwest, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 15:13 (3825 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
To my knowledge, there are no pesticides that target just mosquitoes. Any chemical used would be a broad spectrum pesticide and would kill most insects.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by cd69 , Winnipeg,MB,Canada, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 15:40 (3825 days ago) @ allen
That is correct Allen! It is the drawback of using pesticide/chemicals when fighting moskitoes. They are the most effective but have serious side effects. There are natural ways that can be used and several effective methods have been tried here like breeding insects that feed on moskitoes and using minnows and such in areas where moskitoes breed to attack the larvae stage. The problem with that is cost.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 17:36 (3825 days ago) @ cd69
That is correct Allen! It is the drawback of using pesticide/chemicals when fighting moskitoes. They are the most effective but have serious side effects. There are natural ways that can be used and several effective methods have been tried here like breeding insects that feed on moskitoes and using minnows and such in areas where moskitoes breed to attack the larvae stage. The problem with that is cost.
If they aren't targeting mosquitoes they should not be spraying anything. The spiders and dragonflies that DO eat mosquitoes cannot recover easily from aerial spraying in which their populations are often decimated. And the bats will also eat them. And on and on it goes in the great circle of life.
What a piece of work is man! So friggin' arrogant!!
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by allen , Pacific Northwest, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 17:49 (3825 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
Well, there appears to be at least one person in Zihua who has not contracted chikagunya.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 18:36 (3825 days ago) @ allen
Well, there appears to be at least one person in Zihua who has not contracted chikagunya.
We don't leave standing water for mosquitoes to breed in. We've also completely screened in our home as soon as the father of one of our neighbors died from chikungunya. It's spreading much worse in the colonias where folks are more careless and unaware what mosquito larvae even are, but I expect that to change soon. We got our first rain at 5AM this morning. All up and down the coast of Guerrero is is spreading first in the poorer colonias where folks tend to store water in open containers.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by Gringo Viejo , Kansas/Zihuatanejo, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 18:01 (3825 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
Way back when I seem to remember a control method was used that sprayed a very very light oil sheen which stayed on top of water and prevented the mosquito larvae from reaching the surface.
Oh, what the Hell, a good dose of agent orange and miathalon might be good for something.
Oh, oh, oh, I remember well in the early '50x that aerial apraying of agent orange was used to kill vast tracts of timber so grass would grow and feed the beef. And, yep, virtually all the birds and small animals disappeared for 3 or 5 decades. True story, first hand experience. Sad
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by allen , Pacific Northwest, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 22:34 (3825 days ago) @ Gringo Viejo
They sprayed thousands of gallons of oil on the swamps and jungle of Panama when they were building the canal to try and combat malaria.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, 09:03 (3824 days ago) @ allen
They sprayed thousands of gallons of oil on the swamps and jungle of Panama when they were building the canal to try and combat malaria.
In Florida I recall that Lee County did something similar, using a type of light non-toxic vegetable oil that when properly applied prevented the mosquito larvae from hatching before dissipating without any undesired effects, if I recall correctly. This was used on the barrier islands including Sanibel-Captiva that would've otherwise been practically uninhabitable by fair-skinned yankees and other snowbirds.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by cd69 , Winnipeg,MB,Canada, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 18:42 (3825 days ago) @ ZihuaRob
We tried using dragonflies here and it was effective but as soon as the city fogged with malathion, it killed all the dragonflies. But at the same time malathion was way more effective, getting fast results and cheaper on the long run and money talks. But now malthion is banned as of 2016 here so they are looking at other products. Several natural methods do work but just aren't as effective as chemical spraying. What you mentioned as preventive methods are important as well but the reality is you can't target all at risk areas if you don't have the manpower and budgets. And with the diseases now being carried by moskitoes, chemicals need to be used, even with the bad side effects.
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Unfortunate for the insects, but it is more unfortunate for those who can not screen in their homes and become sick. I think human life matters more.
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by cd69 , Winnipeg,MB,Canada, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 19:39 (3825 days ago) @ LadyM in Zihua
I consider myself fairly green Carol, I contribute to recycling and so forth but in this situation I agree with you and don't think we have much of a choice. I do think better research should be done to come up with a product more effective in targeting moskitoes only or at least less damaging to other species.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by frostbite , Hamilton MT, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 20:33 (3825 days ago) @ cd69
Of course this wouldn't work on a large scale, but when I lived in Anchorage, where the mosquitos are large and plentiful, I bought a Mosquito Magnet which did an incredible job. It puts out carbon dioxide by burning propane and it also blows out another attractant, while sucking in mosquitos into a net bag. It was truly amazing how often I had to empty the bag. The battery was charged once in the spring and lasted all summer. A 5 gallon? bottle of propane lasted a month. They come in various sizes, depending on the size of your property. Around our new place in Montana we don't have many mosquitos, but we do have some kind of gnats, which are quite annoying. They're going to spray the area with a cedar-based product. We'll see how that works.
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by cd69 , Winnipeg,MB,Canada, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 22:53 (3825 days ago) @ frostbite
The moskito magnet is very affective for personal usage but cost prohibitive for a city. As well, it is effective under specific conditions, all of which may not fall under Zihua's situation...
Airplane buzzing the bay - update
by allen , Pacific Northwest, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 22:36 (3825 days ago) @ cd69
There are current experiments involving genetically modified males that create offspring than cannot mate but it is running into a lot of opposition from some corners. Seems like no matter which way you go you are bound to upset someone.
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by cd69 , Winnipeg,MB,Canada, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 22:54 (3825 days ago) @ allen
It is an interesting approach but there is always a scary side to any obliteration of any species and it's not to be taken lightly.
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by ZihuaRob , Zihuatanejo, México, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, 09:11 (3824 days ago) @ cd69
It is an interesting approach but there is always a scary side to any obliteration of any species and it's not to be taken lightly.
Because mosquitoes are part of the same food chain to which we also belong.
The problem is they are carrying and spreading diseases that I attribute to human overpopulation, the elephant in the room that STILL no one is discussing. AIDS, Ebola, Dengue, Chikungunya etcetera are Mother Nature's way of fighting back against human overpopulation. I suspect we ain't seen nothin' yet and that "the best" is still yet to come.
Skitters in Wpg
by Oeste Hermoso , Zihuatanejo, Wednesday, May 13, 2015, 17:38 (3824 days ago) @ cd69
Taz the man!
Skitters in Wpg
by cd69 , Winnipeg,MB,Canada, Thursday, May 14, 2015, 01:18 (3824 days ago) @ Oeste Hermoso
Hasn't been for 2 years after he got fired 
