As a Chevy Chase, D.C., resident, I remember that 10 years ago or so, once June 1 rolled around we were always under siege from tiger mosquitoes. I remember throwing mosquito dunks into storm drains and desperately draining every thimbleful of standing water, as well as having to douse myself in repellent just to go outside and pick up the paper. My simple question — where did they all go? I’m loving not having to deal with them, but maybe there’s an article to be written about that?

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       — Dan Foster, Washington

       There’s an old expression: “Your mileage may vary.” Well, your mosquitoes may vary, too, especially when it comes to the Asian tiger mosquito. It’s out there, even if it’s not biting you.

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       Answer Man would never characterize a particular mosquito as “lazy,” but, as a species, the tiger mosquito doesn’t see any reason to fly far for a meal if there’s one nearby.

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       “Ninety percent of them fly 100 feet or less,” said Brian Prendergast, program manager for mosquito control at the Maryland Department of Agriculture. “Other species spend more time hunting their blood meal.”

       That means if you and your immediate neighbors have been vigilant about mosquito control — eliminating or treating any standing water, no matter how minuscule — you may have few tiger mosquitoes prowling your yard.

       But that doesn’t mean you won’t get bitten by something. There are plenty of hungry mosquito species in our area. The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is just one. There is also Aedes aegypti, known as the yellow fever mosquito. Another genus found in our area — the Culex mosquito — can spread West Nile virus.

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       It’s because mosquitoes are a vector for disease — yellow fever, West Nile, Zika, chikungunya, dengue — that health departments track them. The District’s Department of Health told Answer Man that although the pandemic put a crimp on last year’s mosquito surveillance program, except for the Culex species, things are almost back to normal. Sixteen traps — two in each ward — are monitored. There are additional traps in park sites. The result: Roughly 5 percent more Aedes albopictus mosquitoes have been collected this year compared to previous years (except for the anomalous 2020).

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       Wrote a department spokesman in an email to Answer Man: “Testing is ongoing, and we will have a better idea of disease burden in mosquitoes after the end of the surveillance season.”

       Aegypti and albopictus have a lot in common. They have similar striped markings. Both species are aggressive.

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       “They go out of their way to bite people and they’re very persistent,” said Seth Britch, a research entomologist in the USDA’s mosquito and fly research unit in Gainesville, Fla. Aegypti are known for being out in the middle of the day. Albopictus are known for being “cryptic,” meaning it can be hard to know where they’re hanging out.

       Both are invasive species, native to other parts of the globe but perfectly content to dine here. Aegypti arrived in North America hundreds of years ago, probably carried on ships from the Old World. Albopictus is a more recent arrival, first discovered in Houston in the late 1980s.

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       The recency of its arrival and that cool name — tiger mosquito! — probably help explain why it’s lodged in our memories. Just because the media doesn’t cover the tiger mosquito as it once did, doesn’t mean it’s not out there. (See: “fish, snakehead.”)

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       “There’s attention paid to whatever’s new,” said Prendergast. “If it bleeds, it leads.”

       These species have come to rely on humans, who inadvertently introduce them to new places by carrying them in planes, trains and automobiles. They like our blood, and they like the world we’ve built for ourselves. That’s because that world includes lots of water — or enough, anyway.

       “Asian tiger mosquitoes are really good at exploiting a very unusual habitat, which is used tires,” said Britch. Used tires in a junkyard, a tire swing, an old tire leaning against a garage: All can fill with rainwater and attract the insects.

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       “They lay their eggs right at the waterline — not in the water, but just right at it,” Britch said.

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       The next time it rains, the water can rise enough to start the eggs a-hatchin’.

       Prendergast said those corrugated plastic gutter extenders are another culprit.

       “Water builds up in those little ridges,” he said. “It’s very possible mosquitoes are in there, even though the rest of the yard looks pristine.”

       The irony is that mosquitoes do some of their best work when it’s really dry out. That’s when humans water their yards and gardens, leaving behind tiny mosquito breeding pools.

       “It’s one of those things that takes a community effort,” Britch said, “Even if nine houses out of 10 are very aggressive about reducing habitats, it only takes one homeowner not participating to create plenty of habitat for enough mosquitoes to affect those other houses.”

       Experts counsel eternal vigilance. Said Britch: “The minute you think everything’s fine, that’s when you need to keep doing what you’re doing to keep it that way. It’s easy to drop our guard and the problem can come right back again.”

       Twitter: @johnkelly

       For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/john-kelly.