Letter to the Editor, Posted: 5/26/04
To the editor:
I found Mr. Vitalis' article on Asian Lady Beetles interesting (ECM Post Review, 4-28-04) for two reasons: I too, have vacuumed hundreds of these beetles from my window spaces between the glass and my winter film of insulating plastic as they migrated across my livingroom ceiling.
But, I also remember red with only a few black dots lady beetles who ate the aphids on my rose bushes in the 60s, and 70s; and in those days we also had cuckoos in our yard who, I think, ate the excess lady beetles.
However, with all the chemical lawn sprays and mosquito spraying in my area, not only the cuckoos and nighthawks have vanished, but we have squirrels with white-tail mutations and even grackles with an occasional white wing.
My question is: since these Asian Lady Beetles have been brought in for various purposes (aphid control), has anyone ever tried to re-introduce certain helpful bird populations?I am an active member of Bat Conservation International and I know how education has helped farmers save many crops by putting up bat houses in their fields and saving many bat species worldwide from extinction.
I also know how millions of migrating songbirds are killed by our cell phone technology, towers, etc. Maybe we have just put even helpful, native insect life at risk.
And now even mourning doves can be shot in Minnesota. Maybe some day theyíll discover that they ate Lady Beetles too.
We are so quick to kill, kill, kill with no though of preserving natural predators. Iíd welcome any comments from you.
Alice Wagner
Anoka
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