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August 14, 2014

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Photography, Poetry

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Ode to a Japanese Beetle

Beetle
Oval iridescent green body,
Wings of bronze, quiet and still,
Always hungry, tasting nature’s nectar,
Making lace of leaves, living life with a will.

Note: This is a Popillia Japonica or Japanese Beetle. The photo was taken in Dover, MA in the Noanet Woodlands.

56 thoughts on “Ode to a Japanese Beetle”

  2. Oh my! Is this the beetle you mentioned that likes the Lilies? Actually handsome-looking. 🙂 I especially like your last line — living life with a will. The way we should all live, huh? 🙂

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  5. I love the Japanese Beetle, and some people kill them! Why? because moles like to eat them, and to get rid of moles, they get rid of the beetles! What a bad practice. Japanese Beetles have proven to be very beneficial in general, they eat other pests that harm plants. And moles do NO HARM. Moles only uproot plants, but to eat the beetles, not to annoy gardeners. They don’t care to eat any plants at all. Some people poison Moles. BAD PRACTICE.

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    • Moles don’t live around here, to my knowledge, and I didn’t know moles eat Japanese Beetles. The beetles irritate people around here because their larvae, white grubs, eat grass roots and destroy the grass. My dad used to call them June bugs, and they kind of look like June bugs.

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      • I know, one thing leads to another, yet I also read somewhere that they’re beneficial also. They are beautiful, and your photo is very good. Their colors are fantastic. Moles are despised by some people because they leave holes in the ground and ruin the looks of a meticulous garden. But I’m against killing anything, that is my problem perhaps😔

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        • Mosquitoes are the one exception in my book. And I don’t appreciate the good qualities of deer ticks either, but I do think humans kill too much, devastate other species, create noxious environments too much. I went canoeing along the Concord River and I was fortunate to see three Great Blue Herons. So beautiful, and amazing that the pollution ruining the fishing doesn’t harm the birds that live on the fish.

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          • Oh yes, I have killed mosquitoes. I believe the Cattle Egret was brought from Africa to control ticks on cattle, but some farmers like to use the Guinea Fowl which also eat deer ticks.

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            • Oh yes, and I am currently at war with the scarlet beetle, because it has eaten my aisan lilies for the last time!! But otherwise, I am mostly a live and let live kind of person. I even plant lots of extra parsley, beyond what I need so that I have plenty to share with the bunnies. LOL

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          • Some people love to eat Guinea Fowl eggs because they taste differently. They are not easy to rear though, because they are wild and noisy, and not domesticated as chickens are. They will also defend their eggs viciously, and even hide them. They are known, however, to eat deer ticks.

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  11. Absolutely gorgeous photo and words! I like how it’s something we typically find beautiful– a flower– and something we often miss– a beetle. Good stuff, it’s making my head feel all deep and thoughty.

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