Well I'm no authority, to say the least, on pest problems in Dubai, but as a general rule unless they are doing damage or unless there is a severe infestation then there is no need to do anything. Most "bugs" in the garden pose no threat but unnecessary spraying of chemicals, no matter the type, does. So seeing some bug doesn't automatically mean you need to drag out the pesticide. You learned that with the leaf miners. :) It is impossible to tell from the pics what it is. it may be a black winged aphid but it could also be 100 other types of small flies or gnats attracted to the moisture. I wouldn't worry abut it but if you want to spray something then first make sure that pesticide lists it is effective for the pest and then avoid spraying the fruit directly as much as possible. Dave

BLESS YOU for sending me the link to the Wood Duck clip highlights-both DuBois and I watched it a few minutes ago. Gracious-I didn't think that last duckling would make it. The link is so cool-it shows two cameras-one of the box and pond (so you can see them after they jump) and one of the inside of the box.-you can see them climb up and out http://www.filefactory.com/file/ag1eb41/n/WoodDuck-2_2Cam_avi I had to download a free copy of File Factory Basic. At first I couldn't get the videos but this last HP computer and Firefox browser automatic upgrade suddenly made me able to not only see your clips but see other links I got from Twitter-like the one to the live peregrine falcon chick cam at http://www2.fiberpipe.net/falconcam/live.asp live loon cam at http://www.mnbound.com/live-loon-cam/ Also I can now hear my favorite (French/Creole, from Haiti-lot's of original West Indian music) radio station at http://radio4veh.org/radio_plus/radio_4veh.html

It is a really interesting book. I read it several years ago after reading a message from Barbara on this forum. Last weekend I saw first hand results from the recovery of the peregrines. I went to Washington Monument State Park near Boonsboro to try and spot some migrating raptors. I saw several hawks but no peregrines. I then went to a Ravens football game where I did see a peregrine. A peregrine was floating around above Ravens stadium. It got so close to where I was sitting that I could see it very easily without binoculars. I think the peregrine was trying to figure out what happened to the pigeons that were hanging out at the stadium the previous day, and where did all these people come from. The peregrine even landed on one of the light stands. Richard

Of course, if you don't like it, it has to be a right wing conspiracy. Lol From the link I left above ~ American Council on Science and Health: "Additionally, the evidence regarding the effect of DDT on eggshell thinning among wild birds is contradictory at best. The environmentalist literature claims that the birds threatened directly by the insecticide were laying eggs with thin shells. These shells, say the environmentalists, would eventually become so fragile that the eggs would break, causing a decline in bird populations, particularly among raptors (birds of prey). In 1968 two researchers, Drs. Joseph J. Hickey and Daniel W. Anderson, reported that high concentrations of DDT were found in the eggs of wild raptor populations. The two concluded that increased eggshell fragility in peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and ospreys was due to DDT exposure.9 Dr. Joel Bitman and associates at the U.S. Department of Agriculture likewise determined that Japanese quail fed DDT produced eggs with thinner shells and lower calcium content.10 In actuality, however, declines in bird populations either had occurred before DDT was present or had occurred years after DDT’s use. A comparison of the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Counts between 1941 (pre-DDT) and 1960 (after DDT’s use had waned) reveals that at least 26 different kinds of birds became more numerous during those decades, the period of greatest DDT usage. The Audubon counts document an overall increase in birds seen per observer from 1941 to 1960, and statistical analyses of the Audubon data confirm the perceived increases. For example, only 197 bald eagles were documented in 194111; the number had increased to 891 in 1960.12 At Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania, teams of ornithologists made daily counts of migrating raptors for over 40 years. The counts��"published annually by the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association��"reveal great increases in most kinds of hawks during the DDT years. The osprey counts increased as follows: in 1946, 191; in 1956, 288; in 1967, 457; and in 1972, 630.13 In 1942 Dr. Joseph Hickey��"who in 1968 would blame DDT for bird population decline��"reported that 70 per-cent of the eastern osprey population had been killed by pole traps around fish hatcheries.14 That same year, before DDT came into use, Hickey noted a decline in the population of peregrine falcons.15 Other observers also documented that the great peregrine decline in the eastern United States occurred long before any DDT was present in the environment.16,17 In Canada peregrines were observed to be “reproducing normally” in the 1960s even though their tissues contained 30 times more DDT than did the tissues of the midwestern peregrines allegedly being extirpated by the chemical.18 And in Great Britain, in 1969, a three-year government study noted that the decline of peregrine falcons in Britain had ended in 1966 even though DDT levels were as abundant as ever. The British study concluded that “There is no close correlation between the decline in population of predatory birds, particularly the peregrine falcon and the sparrow hawk, and the use of DDT.”19 In addition, later research refuted the original studies that had pointed to DDT as a cause for eggshell thinning. After reassessing their findings using more modern methodology, Drs. Hickey and Anderson admitted that the egg extracts they had studied contained little or no DDT and said they were now pursuing PCBs, chemicals used as capacitor insulators, as the culprit.20 When carefully reviewed, Dr. Bitman’s study revealed that the quail in the study were fed a diet with a calcium content of only 0.56 percent (a normal quail diet consists of 2.7 percent calcium). Calcium deficiency is a known cause of thin eggshells.21��"23 After much criticism, Bitman repeated the test, this time with sufficient calcium levels. The birds produced eggs without thinned shells.24 After many years of carefully controlled feeding experiments, Dr. M. L. Scott and associates of the Department of Poultry Science at Cornell University “found no tremors, no mortality, no thinning of eggshells and no interference with reproduction caused by levels of DDT which were as high as those reported to be present in most of the wild birds where ‘catastrophic’ decreases in shell quality and reproduction have been claimed.”23 In fact, thinning eggshells can have many causes, including season of the year, nutrition (in particular insufficient calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D, and manganese), temperature rise, type of soil, and breeding conditions (e.g., sunlight and crowding)." Al