The first praying mantis of the summer. Along about early August I start looking for these guys, sort of a “Where’s Waldo?” search through the patio boxes.
Normally I find them all over the sweet autumn clematis just before it blooms, but this year’s first find was on the torenia and coleus on the back deck. I’m guessing there are more where this one was hiding. Since they’re so good at camouflage, they may be out there all summer and I don’t even realize it until they get of a size easier to spot.
I’ve seen both brown and green mantises in years past. I might find one large one, several inches long, with the others in the clematis only an inch or two long. The ones I see don’t look like the picture on the National Geographic site, so maybe they’re a different species.
According to this site, there are more than 2000 species of mantids and — something I didn’t need to know — they’re considered by some as a close relative of the cockroach. Their eyesight is amazing, able to detect movement from 60 feet away. While I’ve always thought of them as welcome in the garden, eating up spiders and grasshoppers, apparently their appetite extends to beneficial insects like butterflies and the bigger ones will even attack a hummingbird. (How do they catch a hummingbird? I think this must be a different species than what we’ve got here.)
So who preys on praying mantids? Bats and birds.
It’s a vicious world out there.
&&
I start a contract job on Tuesday which should last until November. I feel like a kid facing the end of summer vacation and the prospect of school starting. The regimen of having to stick to a schedule in the mornings is going to take some getting used to. And when I look at the forecast for the coming week of nice weather, I already feel cheated out of the last bit of summer. On the other hand, I’m looking forward to re-engaging the brain before it completely shrivels up and turns to wool.
Sunday Supper
I woke up groggy from a much-needed afternoon nap and have no motivation to cook. Sunday supper will be a salad of all the vegetables in the refrigerator, topped by grilled chicken and some Wheatfields rolls. It’s about as simple as I can make it on a humid summer Sunday.
So what’s on your plate this week?
Aren’t praying mantis a sign of good fortune? We have a neighbor lady here we call the Praying Mantis.
Don’t ask.
Good luck with the job. It’ll be nice to be reengaged with society and your working brain.
He’s a cutie. I hope there are some girls out there for him to make babies with.
Good luck with the new job! Returning to a schedule always sucks, but think of the fiber money!
xo
I’ve never seen brown ones, only green. Kewl.
Hope the new job doesn’t interfere with the knitting…
cool bug! Congrats on the job!
)