Re: Do birds eat japanese beetles?

**J* B* <j*@starband.net>**

Margaret,
The beetles jumped the big river almost a decade ago.  Starlings,  
those bothersome ugly pests, are among only a few songbirds that eat  
mature Japanese beetles.  Lots of other birds such as robins nosh on  
the grubs when they up close to the surface.  If a person has a lawn  
mowed tall and not hit with any broad spectrum pesticides in the last  
year, they will have a population of ants, spiders, and ground  
beetles living and eating throughout their lawn. When there is a  
decent population of those three groups of beneficial insects, all  
the eggs of any pest laying eggs in the turf will have 80% of those  
eggs consumed within two days; pretty good pest control in my mind.   
That includes Japanese beetles, sod webworms, bill bugs and others.
I have a pretty complete file on this subject in my website at http:// 
gardening.yardener.com/YardenersPlantProblemSolver/ 
DealingWithPestInsects/PestInsectsInTheLawn/Grubs/ 
PreventingGrubsNextYear

Jeff Ball

On Apr 6, 2008, at 9:59 AM, margaret lauterbach wrote:

I've heard horror stories about the devastation waged by Japanese
beetles, but fortunately for me, I have no experience with
them.  There is a colony in Oregon, allegedly, but other than that, I
don't think they infest land west of the Mississippi.  I've been
dipping into Tallamy's "Bringing Nature Home," and have wondered if
birds do prey upon Japanese beetles or whether they only prey on
native insects.  Thanks, Margaret Lauterbach

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