When you live on the shore, you’re likely going to run into a lot of pests, including mosquitoes, ticks, biting flies, and more. A lot of this has to do with lake-effect humidity and dune vegetation that gives these pests shelter.
There's a tradeoff to living near Lake Michigan. The lake itself, plus the dunes and the cooler shoreline air, is the reason people love it here. But the very same features that make the lake comfortable bring a range of annoying pests. If your yard feels busier than your friends’ places inland, it’s not your imagination.
Mosquitoes love water, and the lake provides plenty of that. Partly, they love water because it gives them a place to breed, both by the shore and in low spots that hold water after rain. Meanwhile, the humidity rolling off the lake keeps vegetation damp so mosquitoes can hide during the day. Floodwater species are particularly nasty since they can lay eggs in drier places that, when soaked after a good rain, lead to tons of hatching mosquitoes all at once.
Ticks are the quieter threat. The blacklegged tick is known to carry Lyme disease, which has become an increasingly prominent issue in western Michigan over the last couple of decades. Dune grass and the transition zones where lawns meet natural growth are prime tick territory.
Then there are the biting flies. Stable flies, sometimes called beach flies, breed in decaying vegetation and washed-up lake debris and deliver a sharp bite around the ankles. Sand flies and no-see-ums show up near the water as well, small enough to slip through screens. And as if that weren’t annoying enough on their own, they don’t respond to bug spray that you’d use on mosquitoes.
Also a problem at the lake, just as they are inland, are spiders, wasps, and ants. When the weather turns, many look for warmer places to stay, which hopefully doesn’t mean your home.
If you're tired of fighting a different pest every week, Mosquito Squad of West Michigan Lakeshore offers layered protection that helps control mosquitoes, ticks, and other shoreline pests, with up to 90% reduction in mosquito activity maintained by a trained technician on a 21-day cycle.
