Ladybugs!!

[Bierto]

Hey all,
here are ladybugs:

 

[Cariatide]

Wow... never seen so many of them together!
--
cuginoStefano
http://www.pbase.com/cuginostefano

 

[antidote]

get them to congregate like this? i struggle to find ONE!

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http://www.pbase.com/antidote3

 

[hugbunny]

What's the story here? I have never seen more than two together, that is incredible!
--
If we learn from our mistakes, I am getting a fantastic education!

 

[Daneel]

Clearly he has some kind of ladybug-nip

j/k

The focus looks a bit soft in some of them, maybe the AF picked the wrong subject.. It looks to me like you were trying for a very small depth of field, but the lens wasn't able to handle it.

Nice work though, don't stop shooting

 

[Daneel]

I liked the third shot the most by the way..

sorry for double post..

 

[RetiredFF]

These are not the 'ladybugs' that most people know and love. They are Asian Lady Beetles, similar in appearance, but a royal pain. They do congregate, and will appear in your house by the 100's and 1000's.

When the temperature drops, they will find the smallest openings to get into a house, but will soon die, and if you try to remove them to the outside, they have a tendancy to stain and they do release a foul-smelling odor. If they stay outside, they will also die once the temps drop.

 

[Ariz]

How do you know they are "ladies"" ???

That is a joke , is case y'all could not figure it out

 

[Tom Ki]

I'll bet there is a low population of aphids on these plants now.
--
Tom Ki
Old too early.....Smart too late.

 

[Luciana Lieff]

Thanks for the Asian Lady Beetles lesson, I get them in my house and I always thought they were ladybugs. On Spring they start to show up and I keep killing them, they do have an odor! They get in the house somehow and all of a sudden they are everywhere!
Maybe I'll get some shots next year!
Luciana

 

[Bierto]

Hey all,

thanks for looking. Yea..these guys were swarming all over the air (I was up in the mountains in southern cal.) and they were all over the plants. I didn't smell anything funky but did happen to get a few into my mouth.

Asian huh! I was wondering what they were because I'd never seen so many in my life. Thanks for the lesson.
does anybody know how to tell male vs female? I've always wondered...

glad you enjoyed!
bierto
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http://photobucket.com/albums/y289/bierto/

 

[Bierto]

Thanks for looking Daneel. I manually focused on these with a sigma 70-300 APO DG macro mode lens and it was tough getting a well focused shot. A small depth of field is impossible to avoid however. A better lens would have helped though. As you can see with the photo of the cement and the asian ladybugs the focus on one of them is dead on but just a few millimeters closer to the ground it is soft. I have found it's really hard to get a well focused shot with macros.

Glad you enjoyed,
Bierto
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http://photobucket.com/albums/y289/bierto/

 

[nodoubt]

i hate those nasty things.......they are everywhere.........