"This is how it flies around catching mosquitoes," she said, noting that in the South the creatures are known as "mosquito hawks".
The mosquito hawks and spiders with big long legs and small bodies, dragonflies, ladybugs, and fast centipedes may seem strange to have around, but they will be your friends (in general).
After the recent discovery of genetic signs of the virus in hibernating mosquitos in Fort Totten, Queens, and reports of an infected hawk found in Bronxville in Westchester, the city has stepped up efforts to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.
The mosquito-control project gained some urgency last week after scientists reported that the virus had survived the winter in a sample of dormant adult mosquitoes from Queens and in a red-tailed hawk that died in Westchester County in February.
No one knows how widespread West Nile might be this year, but the virus has already been found in dormant adult mosquitoes in Queens and in a red-tailed hawk that died in Westchester in February.
So far, researchers have reported finding the virus in a sample of dormant adult mosquitoes in Queens and in a red-tailed hawk that died in Westchester County in February.
It was highly unlikely that the hawk had been freshly infected by a midwinter mosquito bite, many scientists said.
Infected birds were found in Connecticut last fall, but since November, the virus has been found only in a hawk in Westchester County, N.Y., and in a few mosquitoes in Queens, N.Y.
And then there's the tip, in the mosquito letter, to be on the lookout for dead crows, falcons or hawks or "waterfowl exhibiting unusual behavior".
But those hopes were dashed recently when the virus was found in a dead red-tailed hawk in Westchester County, a suburb north of New York City, and in Culex mosquitoes overwintering in Fort Totten, an historic building in the New York borough of Queens.
Days after scientists announced that some hibernating New York City mosquitoes were probably carrying the West Nile virus, Westchester County officials said today that a dead red-tailed hawk had tested positive for the disease that killed seven people in the area last year.
