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Presenting to you a lovely little Striped Ladybird, which was running up and down the branch, before it took off to flight!
Though these are insects, these are not pests in the garden. On the other hand, these beauties are gardener's or farmer's friends, as they eat up on the mites, aphids and plant lice, right from the time they come out of their eggs.
Huntsman spiders so often find themselves within our human homes here in Australia.
They are superb pest control, going after insects such as cockroaches.
This female spotted high up on my lounge wall, just under the ceiling. She is within genus Heteropoda, commonly known as giant huntsman.
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Taken in the parking lot of the Speedway Cafe in Mount Juliet.
Many photos I've taken over the years were made possible by coming across subjects purely by accident. This pic is an example. We were early into our third day of driving to north Texas and had left Lenoir City, just west of Knoxville, without grabbing breakfast first. We stopped in Mount Juliet, wanting to get something to eat before moving through Nashville, and on to our next stop, in Hope, Arkansas. As we were leaving I saw this truck with its great graphic and walked over for a closer look. We spent several minutes grabbing phone pics, being careful to get the best angle for eliminating reflections, when the driver appeared. He asked why we were interested enough in his truck to want photos. At this point I showed him some spider images I had on my phone... a number of them being "in your face" shots of Black Widows. He gave us both his business card and mentioned that we should contact his company, Central Tennessee Termite & Pest Control.
The graphic certainly is an attention getter, but is inaccurate. Black Widows don't construct orb webs... ever. They build shapeless, messy webs in a very haphazard manner. Also, to be anywhere near believable, the spider should be on the other side of the web. I could have reworked the image in Photoshop... carefully placing web strands over the spider, but would have still had the Black Widow occupying a web that clearly wasn't her own. However, the average customer with a serious bug problem isn't going to care one bit about the accuracy of any picture on an exterminator's truck. It serves a purpose as-is. It's creepy, has a creepy (if generic) web, and gets the idea across that these are "bug people" that can help you.
iPhone SE-2
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Praying mantises are closely related to termites and cockroaches. The word mantis comes from the Greek word mantis meaning prophet or fortune teller. There is a well known myth that the female mantis will eat the male after reproduction. Studies have shown this is not necessarily natural behavior, but the result of being studied in un-natural laboratory conditions. Mantises are masters of camouflage, both to avoid being eaten themselves, and to ambush their prey. The natural lifespan of a mantis in the wild is about 10-12 months. The mantis can lash out at remarkable speed, prey are caught and held securely with grasping, spiked forelegs. Their diet usually consists of living insects, including flies and aphids. Larger mantises have been known to eat small lizards, frogs, birds, snakes, and even rodents.
Mantids are found only on land in rainforests, dry forests, undisturbed and second-growth forests.
Mantids in general are very harmless critters. They, in general, don't attack human beings, instead focusing their attacks on prey items. As a matter of fact you can usually handle a wild praying mantis without any concern for a bite. Photo taken the tropical island, Koh Mak.
Bidsprinkhanen zijn een orde van insecten die wereldwijd voorkomen maar voornamelijk in tropische streken leven. In vergelijking met andere insecten zijn bidsprinkhanen relatief groot maar door de vaak goede camouflage vallen ze nauwelijks op. Bidsprinkhanen zijn zonder uitzondering vleeseters en staan bekend als vraatzuchtig en kannibalistisch. Ze grijpen alles wat ze fysiek aankunnen, de voornaamste vijanden zijn hagedissen en vogels. Bidsprinkhanen hebben de opvallende gewoonte om het sterk vergrote voorste potenpaar in rust voor zich uit te houden waarbij de duidelijk zijn samengeklapt. Hieraan is de Nederlandse naam bidsprinkhanen te danken. Bidsprinkhanen zijn niet direct verwant aan de sprinkhanen; ze onderscheiden zich van de krekels en sprinkhanen doordat ze zonder uitzondering vleeseters zijn, niet kunnen springen en een totaal andere lichaamsbouw hebben. Bidsprinkhanen hebben altijd een opgerichte lichaamshouding en nooit een kruipende. Ze zijn ondanks de naam 'sprinkhaan' sterker verwant aan de kakkerlakken dan aan de krekels en sprinkhanen.
The cross orb-weaver (Araneus diadematus), although non-native (introduced from Europe) is not considered a pest, as it does not pose a competitive threat to native spiders, nor is it dangerous to humans It is, however, an excellent garden guardian, devouring many pest insects.
It appears to be well-established throughout North America.
This one is lighter and more reddish than what I usually see.
In Sri Lanka there is pest control every month especially in front of schools. It's against mosquitos to decrease the Dengue cases.
Papa barn owl waiting for dark to fall so he can go hunt. I could hear wee ones squawking for dinner in the box. I saw glimpses of Mama owl inside.
This neighborhood has several great horned owls as well, so the "barnies" need to be careful so they don't become dinner themselves.
I love their heart-shaped faces.
Newark, California
It is said that most pest insects have at least one type of wasp that preys on it and therefore play a vital role in natural pest control.
Something else that I find fascinating about wasps are that they are in the same order (Hymenoptera) as ants and bees.
Doean't it just look like a cross between an ant and a bee?
Then again these things look positively alien to me too...
recently processed film. mamiya 6MF 50mm f/4. fuji velvia RVP 100 chrome. lab: the icon, los angeles, ca. scan: epson V750. exif tags: filmtagger.
I took this photo in the Spring of 1999 on 49th Street, Pinellas Park, Florida in the Parking Lot of a Strip Mall, where I used to eat lunch on work days. It is owned by a Pest Control Company, which exterminates termites. Some of Truly Nolen's Vehicles are modified to look like Mice with Tails, Ears & Whiskers added to their vehicles. In fact, this car has a decal on the door, that is a caricature of the face of a mouse.
Disclaimer: I took this photo in the Spring of 1999 with my Minolta Maxxim 5000 SLR using Slide Film, when I was just learning photograph; so they are very soft & grainy. I scanned the Slide and used Photoshop Elements to correct the exposure and to generate this Digital Image.
Not the usual site at the Hospital where I Work. Someone has a sense of humor. And... the pest control efforts are working.
Found this Pine weevil (13mm long, Hylobius abietis, Curculionidae) in a mixed forest in Valmiera (northern Latvia, August 2015). It is also a common pest in plantations of coniferous trees.
Studio work with a cleaned and staged specimen. Focus stack based on 122 images, assembled in Zerene Stacker (Pmax & Dmap).
Canon 5Dmkii, MP-E 65mm at 1.9x, ISO-100, f/6.3, 1/125sec; 1 flash, diffused with tracing paper all around the subject.
I saw this pest control truck next door so went and grabbed the camera... I hope they had better luck with the bugs because HE's still there... Happy Truck Thursday, Everybody!!!
This very old biplane occasionally flew over our hotel in Varadero, Cuba at dusk, spraying to keep down the mosquitos and insects. I managed to get this close shot, from the highest available place in the hotel, at sunset as it appeared over the hotel roof and made it's last pass, just starting to release the spray. The picture I have posted in the first comment below is of the same plane as it flew away over the other hotels with the spray on full release. Because of the new Flickr lay out, I have now made it viewable to all and you can see it next to this one on my stream. Thanks to 'SBA73' who has identified it as an 'Antonov AN-2 Soviet Aircraft' which is/was widely used as a parachute platform and for crop dusting. See more pics and details of this plane on his photostream.
Full length macro (minus a bit of antennae) of a brownish colored Praying Mantis keeping the pests away from my pepper plants.
Two and a half inches tuber on a root of the prolific cat claw vine in my backyard garden in Tucson, Arizona, Southwestern USA.
I positioned my camera so you can see through the hole in the root.
This patch was overgrown and is being cleared for a vegetable and flower garden. The minute I saw this tuber, I knew I had my Macro Mondays theme shot for the week ending today.
Never plant this invasive vine in the ground!!! It is a menace, an invasive pest. The previous owners had planted it on the sleepy garden walls and one side of the house. It's been quite a struggle to begin to get rid of it.
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This is a generic photo of a mousetrap.
Want to use one of our images on your own site? That's great! We do ask that you please give credit for the image by including a link to www.insightpest.com/.
I don't know their profession, pest control is just my wild guess...
Strobist: AB1600 with gridded 60X30 softbox overhead. AB800 open behind backdrop of white faux suede.Triggered by Cybersync.
If you live in Arizona, then you know it is impossible to ignore or miss the swarms of bees that have been invading certain parts of the state. Watch this video to know more. Watch this video or read this www.sextonpestcontrol.com/staying-safe-from-swarms-of-bees/
www.markcarmodyphotography.com/blog and www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/RealData/Articles.asp
The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is a species of tree squirrel (genus Sciurus). A tree-dwelling omnivorous rodent, the red squirrel is common throughout Eurasia.
In Great Britain and Ireland, numbers have decreased drastically in recent years, in part because of the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) from North America.
The red squirrel is found in both coniferous forest and temperate broadleaf woodlands. The squirrel makes a drey (nest) out of twigs in a branch-fork, forming a domed structure about 25 to 30 cm in diameter. This is lined with moss, leaves, grass and bark. Tree hollows and woodpecker holes are also used. The red squirrel is a solitary animal and is shy and reluctant to share food with others. However, outside the breeding season and particularly in winter, several red squirrels may share a drey to keep warm. (wikipedia)
This is one of the group of red squirrels transported from the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey to Tresco Abbey Gardens in September 2013. There are no grey squirrels on Tresco and the Reds are doing very well indeed here. I was on Tresco during a cruise working as a Naturalist with Lindblad/National Geographic in May 2015.
A case of vivid realism here in this English language advert for the "Electro-Insecto" fly killer trap from c1927 and that appears in an article illustrating German machinery advertising. It is the work of Ludwig Holhwein (1874 - 1949) who is widely acknowledged as being one of the great poster artists and graphic designers of the Twentieth Century having first trained as an architect until he switched to design in c1908. His later work became associated with the Nazi Regime after they assumed power in 1933.
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA - Composition Wednesday #PhotoOfTheDay #SMYNYC #iPhonePhotography #NewYork #NYC #VampireRepellant #PestControl #garlic #LES #LowerEastSide #photography #2016
© Erik Mc Gregor
This is a photo of a spider on a white background
Want to use one of our images on your own site? That's great! We do ask that you please give credit for the image by including a link to www.insightpest.com/.
In recent Flickr posts I have speculated that some of the unrefined behaviours of the Little Owl may be due to their gene pool having been influenced by a process of domestication, concluding that, were this to be the case, there should be cultural artefacts reflecting an intimate proximity with man from over both time and geography.
Here, it can be argued that Little Owl behaviours that do not seem to favour survival become 'logical' when viewed as having been selected for an environment guided by the behaviours, rewards and needs of man: domestication.
Nature asks for a clean nest for chicks: man asks for a constant cadence of attack towards any rodents, small birds or even large insects near grain stores or food production. Regarding pest control, this is a requirement outside of issues like hunger and need.
Nature usually asks for a wary degree of nervosity: man asks for an ability to stay calm inside his 'adapted' environment.
Nature asks for an element of territory: man asks that domesticated animals cohabit in higher numbers in merged or compressed territories.
Nature asks that Owls, with their large eyes, adapt to night hunting - a time zone where rodents are openly relaxed; man asks for 24hr/7 vigilance.
The selection of traits out from a species gene pool was applied to dogs, cats, sheep, cows and maybe ... the Little Owl?
It can be argued that the traits of pest control, night vision and access to a 360° 'neck rotation' vista-of-vigilance are all assets adapted for man's prehistoric needs - certainly from the neolithic ages of deforestation when nests and chicks would appear from the bounce and crack of fallen trees, and maybe, at times, from earlier ages.
Having 'friendly' and reliable animals around habitation can also be pleasant, and the pleasure of young animals, 'pets' and even wide eyed 'Furbies' evokes very real emotions that must have deep roots for humans. Having large beady eyes and a 'squark' may also have been reassuring for new sedentary crofting settlements near to (previously stigmatized?) rugged zones that might hide 'shock animals', myths or bandits.
Today we associate the farm cat with pest control and the dog with guarding 'property' - during some, or many of the ages of prehistory, these roles may have been afforded to the owl - with or without the help of the domesticated cat or dog. The smallest and least glutton species of owl is perhaps the Little Owl – and the 'low calory' specification of this pigeon-sized bird may have made it best-fitted to man's needs. Here, all owls may have been subjected to occasional 'falconry-esque' training, with the Little Owl simply being more generalised and 'long-term' than other species of owl: simply a typical co-voyager with man, to the point of general pan geographical training and ultimately domestication?
Today we may from time to time see trained birds of prey and be amazed at how well they can adapt their behaviours to man's regimes of will. This hypothesis for the Little Owl is not that of training birds of prey, an action that does not necessarily procure changes in the species gene pool. Man's contact with the Little Owl may have started with adopted chicks, followed by 'bird of prey training' (applied Falconry) followed by selection between generations according to traits and thus the drive to domestication. Perhaps a similar process is occurring today with the pheasant, as generations of breeders and chicks pass again and again through the hunter's and breeder's cages?
In a past post (see below) I illustrated the degree to which abstraction can drawn into an animal's real form via schematic simplification. I illustrate this with examples of late neolithic and early bronze age abstractions for cows and bulls and then propose a first schematic for an owl - an anthomorphic owl. In keeping with this initial post, some of the images in the selection above may be deemed to be anthomorphic owl images, others pure owl images and others 'escaped schematic'.
Seeing an anthomorphic animal does not automatically trigger the word 'shamen' - 'shamen' being perhaps today's most fashionable word in prehisitory, but fashion can be fickle, over-sized, ill-fitting and gratuitous... Most of the statue menhirs around the Pic Saint Loup might be said to have owl-like eyes, and it may seem odd that they are all honouring a single projected role.
A people who see themselves as having the qualities of observation and patience witnessed in an owl may want to align their identity with that animal, in the same way that a people with a bull's 'force and perseverance' and a cow's 'milk of food and nurture' might want to associate with the bull or cow; and a people with an agility of mind, flexibility and omnipotent mobility may want to associate with a goat; the resounding beauty of birds of paradise and so on... Today, sports-clubs can associate with qualities of animals. Another avenue into an anthro-owl schematic that bypasses a direct shamanic interpretation is that of the cultural story with a link between ancestors and owls. Both of these topics - of a population's 'living' flesh and blood owl-like qualities and 'collective consciousness', and, an owl-like 'manifestation' of a people's dead also have the potential to coexist. Here a shaman may align to the horse, or 'abstract progenitor being' ... with the general population aligning with the owl, or many other cultural and spiritual appreciations that are simply not available to us today and must remain mysteries.
Of the artforms featured in the above montage, some may be judged by readers to not be influenced by owls; others from the examples may have had owl origins and experienced phase-changes over time. Likewise, the individual 'owl figures' may have been greatly different symbols, as each of the figures are taken from a wide geography and chronology. With many, many thousands of miles between some of the examples, and whole ages of time, differences of meaning are to be expected: remembering that here, with this montage, we are simply looking through squinted and imperfect minds-eyes to see if we might just be able to see evidence of owls and man in the sort of relationship that might correlate with an environment of proximity necessary for domestication – nothing more (and no need for scales).
The montage features copyright free images of an early domesticated cat (Felis silvestris lybica), an example of a public domain mouse, (here greedy to eat sweet-smelling food stores of next seasons seeds and this year's winter food storage), and then the same Little Owl (Athene noctua) modified for a past post. Thanks to all photographers. The question is, who guarded the grain from the mouse after the neolithic revolution? – a headstrong cat, or a hunter bird that can sit between a limited number of adjacent perches, above a target and have the aptitude to just wait?
We know that anti-vermin trenches were built in Tell Brak, Syria (5500 ybp) and that they were sprinkled with an early 'rat poison'; we know that secure grain pits were built and sealed; that the neolithic brought in new ceramic pot technologies - pots fired and sealed and even hung above the ground on cordes ... but we also know that grain spills when making bread, and that cracks form and inquisitive pesty minds find ways through; we also know that mice and rats can establish warrens and tunnels that were avoided when man was on the move – so, as the whole of the neolithic year rested on the management of production, it must be recognised that additional omnipotent protector eyes would certainly help to keep the environment in order during both the day and night. Were these eyes cats, owls, both or none?
The aim here is simply to show potential icons of owls abstracted by man with a credible distance and time to sustain an argument for domestication, and here we have 5000 years and 4000km. Some schematics may be deemed too spurious and others may be added, for example neolithic Algerian owls (alas I was unable to find public domain images).
Left: A stele found in the ancient city state of Mari in eastern Syria (4,900 ybp and 3,759 ybp). This stele is thought to be from the beginning of the third millennium BC. The site has suffered in recent years from theft and artefact death. The idea that the large round owl eyes can see both at night and in the day, and that this quality inducted to also represent the sun and the moon may be mused. Here is an article on the subject. I doubt its interpretation of the triangle and it seems to be a way to suggest plumage and even a darker triangle on the bird.
pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9a1e/546b387a539198da8526c9e208c...
Second left: Portugal slate owl. From between 5,500-4,750 ybp. As far as I understand this example is from Valencina de la Concepción and is on show at the Museo Arqueológico de Sevilla [MAS] in Spain. Details of this and other plaques appear in this article:
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone...
Centre left: Guadalquivir Valley alabaster idol from the Chalcolithic 3rd millennium BC
www.man.es/man/en/coleccion/catalogo-cronologico/prehisto...
Centre right: A protocorinthian aryballos in the form of an owl from around 2660 ybp, so a small Peloponnese Greek pot for holding perfumed oil.
www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/corinthian-aryballos-shap...
Near right: From the Perdigões site in the Evora region of Portugal with a museum in Reguengos de Monsaraz. The image is the head of a long and fascinating anthomorphic figure with owl-like features to the face.
Right: Athena Owl. Greek bowl or skyphos (deep drinking cup), from the Aléria Museum, 2700 ybp in Corsica. Taken from a Flickr post with permission and thanks to Andy Hammond.
www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/the-owls-of-athena-some-comments...
Lower left bowl: Los Millares bowl - 3200–2300 BC from a very important late neolithic village in Almeria in southern Spain. A Wiki commons image.
virtual3dugr.prehistoriayarqueologia.org/modelos3D?title=...
Lower centre: Eye idol from the early city state of Tell Brak in Syria 5600 ybp (a few examples of these idols are also found outside the confines of the city, but when marriage and 'souvenir collection' is factored-out, the loci of Tell Brak and an adjacent town seems to resume its zone of influence. On saying that, both the eye idols and the spectacle idols were of extreme importance to this early city, its people, and temple. Do we see the element of attentiveness and watching with a hint of owl and a hint of landscape and astres?
Low right: spectacle idol, again Tell Brak so late Uruk period 5300-5000ybp Syria. These artefacts are from a unique site that will be looked at in more detail in a future post and there is obviously more to them than schematic description alone. These last two images are from my archive.
Was the owl a bird fleetingly glimpsed by hunters in trees and on branches, or was it an integral part of village life and culture helping to make early crofting conglomerates become functional ideas that could seed through populations? Do these images support the idea that to get to such a broad level of abstraction and integration within the culture of man, the owl, or even more specifically the Little Owl may have been following mankind from within his most intimate lifestyles rather than simply flying around outside? Certainly at some point the domestic cat took over the role of pest control, but was there a before? And if the Owl lived within and between man, it is hard to imagine that spooky, morbid or cryptic meanings would be attached to his schematics and abstractions, as the animal would more likely be a trusted and loved feature for all generations - perhaps a sublimation of ideas such as 'big man', 'wisdom', common sense, attentiveness and loyalty. Here, the dynamic "Athens" of "Athene noctua" was perhaps a first age after prehistory, and simply a city still been in contact with a deeper synchronicity, as the Little Owl lived its integrated urban life as a sacred and protected animal through the city streets symbolising a personification of wisdom: a last cry from a distance of age rather than a first symbol of civilisation.
AJM 23.06.20
The exterminator delivered shocking news to her.
"Ma'am, I've examined your house and I believe I have some very worrying news for you... see this shuriken I found? And those sword slashes on the your table? The signs are obvious, your house is crowded with Ninjas! Nasty little nuisances, I'm afraid this will be expensive, in worst case I have to gas the whole house..."
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