<FONT color=blue>Photo Review</FONT>: 2007 Best Pest Photo Contest Finalist Photos

Published December 18, 2007

Fla
PCT BEST PEST PHOTO CONTEST WINNER: Donna Richardson, vice president of Royal Pest Management, New Castle, Del., won this year's contest WITH this photo OF a cluster OF brightly colored boxelder bugs IN the nymph state. ( READ more about this photo.)

Photographer : Donna Richardson, Royal Pest Management, New Castle, Del.

Fla < BR > Finalist Photo : Residex Northern Florida District Manager Pete Elbert found this queen yellow jacket flying around the inside OF a hotel registration area WHILE he was checking IN .The hotel was located IN Williamson, Ky.Elbert saved it FROM the registration attendant who was trying TO KILL it. “ I know she thought I was probably a little ‘ OFF, ’ nonetheless, the picture I feel has the clarity that will allow everyone a chance TO see a yellow jacket this CLOSE without being involved IN her wrath, ” Elbert said. “ IN the END, I was able TO capture her AND let her go outside - without getting stung. ”

Photographer : Pete Elbert,Residex

Finalist Photo : Hahni Mramor snapped this up - CLOSE photo OF a dragonfly that “ did NOT want TO leave her finger. ” She was able TO hold her camera IN one hand WHILE it posed ON the other.Mramor 's father, John Mramor, owns and operates an Orkin branch in Athens, Ga.
Photographer: Hahni Mramor, Lawrenceville, Ga.

Finalist Photo: This picture of a grasshopper was taken by Bobby Hutchinson of Tucson, Ariz., in his backyard. Hutchinson is the nephew of Nanette Launius of Borite Termite & Pest Treatments, Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Photographer: Bobby Hutchinson, Tucson, Ariz.

Finalist Photo:Two fighting stag-beetles on a staple of firewood. The picture was taken in a garden behind a home in the southwest of Germany, near Freiburg. A large staple of firewood was placed at the foundation and older pieces of the wood with direct contact to the soil were rotten. Some of the logs were covered with soil - a perfect breeding place for stag-beetles.
Photographer: Reiner Pospischil, Bayer Environmental Science

Finalist Photo: A Chinese mantis found on the East Campus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Our secretary found her and brought her into the office, and she became my pet for a couple weeks, eating everything from bees to crickets to moths,” said photographer Erin Bauer.
Photographer: Erin Bauer, extension assistant, Pesticide Education Office, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Finalist Photo: Gerry Wegner photographed this imperial moth (Eacles imperialis) caterpillar that he spotted feeding on the needles of a white pine in someone's front yard. “ These large caterpillars sometimes get spotted BY customers AND result IN phone calls TO our office FOR species identification AND pest assessment,” he said. “ I took this shot WITH a Mavica 20 X Steadyshot digital camera using the built - IN flash."
Photographer: Gerry Wegner, Varment Guard Environmental Services, Columbus, Ohio

Finalist Photo: A cockroach molting.
Photographer: Jeff Tucker, Entomology Associates, Inc., Houston, Texas

Finalist Photo:A Japanese beetle in a defensive position on a cool summer day on some leaves.
Photographer: Wesley Hamel, EnviroPest, Windsor, Colo.

Finalist Photo:Terminix’s Stoy Hedges photographed this cockroach from a unique perspective. He dubbed it a “spying cockroach.”

Finalist Photo: Bombus bimaculatus foraging on photographer Jennifer Dacey’s sunflower plants.
Photographer: Jennifer Dacey, quality control specialist, Waltham Services, New London, Conn.