What is the natural enemy of this beetle in Japan? and why not bring it to the US?

>>5019 Isn't there some sort of mild soap sollution you can mix in a spray bottle for bugs?!

>>5003 what a pain in the ass those beetles are! i'm growing basil plants and am prepared for the caterpillars to begin their attack! i hate to spray my plants with pesticides, but what other choice do i have?

I just looked it up, and here's why you have not heard of them yet! :)
http://www.landscape-america.com/problems/insects/japanese_beetle.html

>>4989 The Japanese Beetle somehow made it to the U.S. and has been destroying everything they can ever since! I thought the Japanese Beetle would have been seen in California, since they're here in the midwest!

Great pics vis :)

>>4973 Errr, this is a SFW site! :D

no i never have! we have june bugs, and those are obnoxious, but i can never remember coming in contact with a jap beetle. are they related to june bugs?

You've never heard of Japanese beetles?! Or were you just being funny!? :p

wow! never heard of a jap beetle before.. nice picture! :)

That flower must taste real good!
I snapped this pic on some property being surveyed! Earlier, I saw Jap beetles gang raping a female, but I didn't have the camera ready! :D

>>4947 i know it looks like a heavily fortified prison setting! you will be relieved to know this fence and barbed wire are protecting the duck club! :D

>>4927 wonderful shot.... never seen that type of butterfly up here in the great white north.
>>4930 gorgeous blue.... i believe that is a tree swallow. Masters of flight
>>4931 did you shoot this one at Pelican Bay?

and then a dove was watching as i climbed in my truck. i need to remember to bring bread crumbs next time!

finally found a bird :)

and then i saw this little guy..

went out to shoot birds on sunday, found this guy along the way.. wings about the size of a guitar pic!

>>4549 HA!

>>4550 nice clear shot! We don't have Chaffinches.

Eastern Kingbirds... from the Flycatcher family

From the archives... ...A chaffinch

>>4547 Interesting!
...Now I see why I haven't seen them...

>>4539 i checked on your 'birds of britian' site... the cedar waxwings are there as well 'the lord'

>>4532 >>4531 Great stuff! not seen them before :)

....and they travel around in posses

Very difficult to shoot but a truly lovely bird. Its called a waxwing as the edge of its tail and wings looked as they've been dipped in yellow and red wax respectively.
You have them in Orange County Vis!
http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/birds/passeriformes/Bombycilla%20cedrorum/index.htm

it has been so windy and ugly here on the weekends making it harder to shoot birds. if you can catch them holding still for a split second, the branch is swaying in the wind and it's always something. but looks like we're set to have a gorgeous memorial day weekend coming up!

>>4458 Interesting little chap :)
>>4462 Patience, that's the difficult bit :D

i've learnt that if you situate yourself and be patient, the birds will think you are part of the scenery and will go about their feeding and foraging admist your presence.

i'm always amazed at how close you can get to these birds. it's like you're hiding in a nest or something.. great job!

Northern Flicker grooming itself this morn. These birds seem to be attracted to Lance. They stay just above him wherever he goes as to just keep him in their sights.

no birdbath yet. still need to go get more birdseed from target. still, it's only attracting brownies. been there, done that. i am going to invest in some colorful blow-up bird dolls and see what that attracts! ;)

I've looked at birds in both of your areas... there are some nice ones out there... u just need to look beyond the yonder. Did you put a birdbath out Vis?

>>4421 Pretty much all the UK birds are brown too XD

>>4414 very impressive! great framing and focus. easy to find and shoot birds when they stand out like these! the birds around me are brown! :D

>>4399 nice barn swallows champ. Amazing flyers they are.
>>4406 Thanks dude. Its taken 4 years to learn how to shoot them or i'm retarded.

glad to see you're feeling better, jesuschrist! ;) great action shot of the swallow(s) and awesome blackbird!

>>4344 - nice find! you are very good at capturing these birds!

Here's a good reason to never stand behind a bird! ;D

>>4344 Wow! That Oriole is a beauty :)

But then more Swallows :)

Out of nowhere... ...a Blackbird!

More Swallows

Swallows
http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird-guide/swallow.asp

>>4387 American Tree Sparrow... female.

Found this one, and it belongs here! :)

not the best shot photo but it is a Baltimore Oriole and a Mourning Dove in the same frame

>>4291 I didn't say I was feeling better :D
Got some shots of Swallows today, I'll post some tomorrow as I'm too tired right now :)

>>4274 great stripes on this one!
>>4252 welcome back - glad you're feeling better! how are you holding up? :)

get cracking. I know you have an arsenal of shots

Loving these pics guys :D
Sorry I've been absent lately, had the flu :S

>>4212 LOL!

NOTE: Don't fuk with a swallow building its nest!

>>4200 wow, not only a beautiful bird, but a great photo!! one of the best! :)

Heres the happy couple

>>4197 This is a Northern Mockingbird... I identified it from the "Birds of Orange County" website.
Heres a Cardinal from this week. I swear I'm seeing 5 - 15 of these per hike. His bitch is never too far behind

>>4198 Beautiful shot... looks like a House Finch but i could be wrong

got just under this little guy :)

thanks, sundin.

also heard some chirping this afternoon and couldn't resist leaving the office to see who was making the noise!

Excellent job Vis! Captured the frenzy of the moment

got my zoom lens today and just my luck, at the same time, there was some roadkill out on the street!! :D

do you ever climb into trees, sundin? it's a great shot! :)

Tricky little fellow to photograph. Doesn't sit in one place for more than 2 seconds

>>4128 Indeed, but the Asian bit makes ours cuter :D
>>4129 Wow!!! :O

Shooting this Baltimore Oriole the other day. When I later looked at the pics... I noticed the yellow blur which was a warbler flying by at that exact instant

>>4094 very very similar to your Eurasian nuthatch

>>4066 Sweet :D
>>4067 >>4088 Wonderful stuff :)

Had an affair with a yellow warbler today hiking up the Credit River!
She loved the camera
>>4085 its good luck when a bird poops on your being. Would probably keep you safe from eels and sharks another year

>>4073 If I tried that, it would just crap in my hand while eating!

this is really amazing to me that a bird will fly down to a random, open hand full of seed.. gotta try it! :)

very exciting Vis... toys are vastly more expensive in adulthood.
Tamed a new beast today. Check out the talons

just placed my order for a 55-250 IS telephoto zoom lens. hopefully will get it next week! :)

American Robin... much different than the Euro-version

>>3998 wow.. this is the kind of bird, with that awesome color, that i always hope to discover while out with my camera.

>>3996 Northern Rough-Winged Swallow... nice shot dude. The bird on the wall in your feeder pic is a House Finch.
>>3989 Wonderful shot, wonderful bird JC!

All I shot today was a Toronto Blue Jay

last one, taken sometime last year, as well. this concludes my bird showcase. must replenish the library now! :D

also from laguna beach, same day

from my day at main beach in laguna, last year.

thanks for the tips, sundin, and for the link to birds in OC!!

jesuschrist, an incredible shot of that bird! beautiful color patterns and clear as a bell! love it!! :) i need a zoom lens now!

>>3985 Wow! Never seen a Bee Eater.
Here is a little cheeky chappie from this morning. He's a Chaffinch that was sat right next to me while I had my coffee in the woods :D
* Full size for extra bird-ness :D

I'm jealous JC. I have a gf shooting birds in England the next 4 weeks while she's there. I researched English birds yesterday to make her a comprehensive list of what to look for. I read about the 'Bee Eaters', thought to be extinct in the UK but were discovered again on some English Farm in 2002. I'd love to see ur pics JC... post them here dude!
VIZ... one thing i forgot to mention to you was to add a tray of water underneath your bird feeder. THEY WILL BATHE, in the morning and at sunset. They love it. Much like this tray >>3929
I DID NOT TAKE THIS PHOTO, but its of the Bee Eaters. Keep your eyes peeled JC

I'm off on one of my regular woodland walks shortly, I'll take the zoom lens and see if I can get any bird shots :)

I use this zoom lens http://www.dyxum.com/reviews/lenses/reviews.asp?IDLens=342
It's left over from my Minolta 35mm Film SLR but works perfectly on my Sony. It may be not the best zoom lens in the world, and it's pretty heavy at 1Kg, but I'm always pleased with the results :)
* Also as the modern SLR's often have a sensor smaller than 35mm the effective zoom of the lens is increased, so on my Sony this lens is equivalent to a 110-450 :D
** Standard zoom level, equivalent to the human eye, is 50mm in old 35mm Film terms or around 35mm on most current SLR's, except the really expensive ones :)
*** Yes this whole lens in mm thing is bloody confusing XD

such awesome photos, guys!! thanks for sharing!

what is the zoom lenses you guys are playing with? i need to get one! i need to go outside sometime. :( wow, i'm really impressed with your bird pics!

i shoot with a Canon Eura 90 cam. It does the trick for right now but I need to get something better soon.
Baltimore Oriole

>>3948 And using a multi-shot or continuous shot mode on your camera helps enormously when photographing birds, or any wild life :)
My Sony SLR can take continuous shots at a rate of 3.5 shots/sec which I totally love. Can't wait to put that function to more use. I also have a wireless trigger for my camera which I hope will help in getting close up shots of birds :)
Sundin, are all your shots with your phone? If so that is f*$£ing awesome work on your part :D

"Bobby" the Robin, who regularly joins in the tea break with my local walking group :D

Robin

Male Chaffinch

Awesome shots Sundin :O
Adding some of my recent bird pics..
Eurasian Nuthatch

http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/birds/index.htm

Everything from Hummingbirds and down on this list will visit your feeder Viz.
Some amazing birds in Orange County... sone of which I'll never see here

American Redstart Warbler from this past weekend.
Vizzy, If your camera has multi pic action (takes a bunch of successive photos at once)you will get some truly unique bird photos of landings, spread wings and quirky habits.

>>3930 haha they'll even pose for the picture!! very nice! :D

>>3930 Great pic!

AND... RJ is correct that the chickadees can be hand fed.

Northern Flicker from yesterday. I believe its Alabamas state bird. The Flicker is a woodpecker

"only feed birds in winter..otherwise they become lazy" as my granny always said.
"unless they wear a skirt" my grandpa replied

Much cheaper variant of your high-tech bird feeder.

>>3913 Vis - Nice little birds - not skitterish about having people around - they are quite curious about us. Their call is "Chickadeedeedeedee". They can be hand fed.
http://tinyurl.com/2cf6dyf

>>3912 a great photo, sundin. i don't think we have birds like this anywhere near orange county.

i take a lot of pictures of birds these last couple of years... Heres a black-capped chickadee from last week.

>>3903
Perv! ;)

I like watching birds too..

Throwing the bird against the wall to make it stick, to get a good pic is not very nice! ;D

♫Spider Bird, Spider Bird♫ :D

I've been meaning to get some bird shots lately but don't seem to have got round to it yet :/