Posts Tagged: predators
Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer
You've heard the expression, "On a wing and a prayer." It apparently originated during World War II. Remember the 1942 film, "The Flying...
A tattered monarch makes a refueling stop on a Tithonia in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Wings are shredded and scales slashed, but this male monarch still flies. Here it pauses to soak up some sunshine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A predator missed--but a miss is as good as a mile. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A migratory monarch, after sipping some flight fuel in Vacaville, Calif. takes off "on a wing and a prayer," heading for an overwintering site along the coast. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Mendocino County no longer to contract with USDA Wildlife Services
Mendocino County supervisors decided to sever ties with the USDA's division of Wildlife Services, reported Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle. The decision was made after environmental groups said the agency was indiscriminately killing predators, such as mountain lions and coyotes, because they are a threat to livestock.
The article featured a gallery of 10 artful photos taken at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, which maintains a research sheep flock of 500 breeding ewes. Record-keeping of sheep losses to predators began at Hopland in 1973. Coyotes are the most serious predator problem.
Hopland staff use a variety of non-lethal and preventative methods to protect sheep from predators, such as fencing, mob grazing and frequent pasture rotation and guard dogs, according to Kim Rodrigues, the director of the research and extension facility. Currently there are five guard dogs at the center. The guard dogs bond with sheep and protect them primarily by barking and other aggressive behaviors when strangers or predators are near the sheep flock.
Do You Know What's In a Hedgerow?
If you like to see lady beetles devouring aphids or assassin bugs piercing spotted cucumber beetles, then you'll love the workshop taking place...
A lady beetle, aka ladybug, devouring an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An assassin bug, a beneficial insect, targeting a pest, a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A green lacewing looking for love. Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Why You Should Not Clean Your Porch Light Fixtures
Here's a good reason why you should not clean the fixtures around your porch lights--if you need a reason. The lights attract all kinds of nocturnal...
Porch lights attract predators and prey, including this predator, a praying mantis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Generalist Predators
I must confess: I began this blog with the intention of telling you about my yard’s most dependable bloomers during our long, hot, dry summer. When I went out to photograph the winners (lantana and Salvia … yawn), I found several praying mantids among the foliage.
This seemed much more interesting to me. Have you noticed the mantids in your yard yet? I bet they’re out there.
We’ve always been fascinated by praying mantids at our house, especially when our children were younger. We attempted to keep one or two as pets, but I could not allow it to go on too long. The insects seem so solitary, so plodding, so Zen, it felt cruel keeping them away from the wild. (Full disclosure: The kids also befriended a few tomato hornworms over the years, naming them Verde or Spike. Alas, I did not feel much sympathy for those nasty things, and they remained as pets until they inevitably died in their shoebox purgatories. Cruel? Probably. Sorry. I call it even.)
But these mantids, they’re just plain cool. They’re predators, and the gardening world has taken notice. I have seen some garden stores selling gray-brown mantid egg cases in hopes the newly hatched mantids will stick around and dine happily on your aphids and yellow jackets and such. After some quick research, I learned praying mantids (AKA preying mantis) are not just predators, but “generalist predators,” meaning they eat whatever they can get their spiny front legs and jaws around. This includes beneficial insects and, yes, other mantids.
That makes them Zen cannibals. How cool is THAT?
It also means, as so astutely stated on the UC IPM website, “As mantids consume both pests and beneficials, they are difficult to use reliably for biological control.” So save your money and avoid the egg cases at the garden store. But please let them run free, if you’re lucky enough to have some land in your back yard.
Another mantid — about 4 inches long — hangs out on a Ceanothus ‘Concha’. (photos by Kathy Thomas-Rico)
A praying mantid luxuriates in a Dudleya on a cool Sunday morning in Vacaville.