Mantis reprise!

Yesterday morning as I took my dog back into the house, I noticed something (I didn't know what) on the side of my house. Lately I've had to be vigilant about whereabouts of every last stink bug in my neighborhood before opening my door, so I've paid more attention to what, exactly, is on my house.

I came back outside and crept closer. I found, to my delight, a beautiful mantis.

I hadn't seen one of these lovely creatures prior to my birthday last summer when a mantis made a fashionable entrance to my party by landing on my friend Nancy's face. Now it seems that, if I'm careful, I can spot several each year. I must live in a good place for mantises to live...

This little fella was turning orange. I don't have any idea what that means. I thought perhaps it helped him cloak himself in foliage, since that's shifting from green to red-orange-yellow-brown these days too... But I'm not sure. I already read that it's possible that this fella was a male because he was brown or that the color indicates the climate he lives in (?). I'll have to pose this question to my entomologist friend to find out the real deal.

In any case, I loved finding another mantis! They're really beautiful.

Porch find: Maimed grasshopper

I swept off my back porch today, delighted to find that the recent rain had cleared away most of the bird mess left below my feeders... When I was sweeping off brush, leaves, seed pods, and stink bugs (ick), I saw something bright green and stopped to examine it. 

What I found was this poor little guy. It clung to the porch, so I ran to get my camera (of course!). I noticed that it only had one back leg while I was taking pictures. It's remarkable how these little guys survive with fewer limbs than intended.

Beetle beat

I found this little guy in my mulch one day when I got out of the car. I was carrying in groceries, but I ran in to grab my camera so I could get a shot before it went away.

According to my entomologist friend, this is a spotted pelidnota or grapevine beetle, which is a cousin of the Japanese beetle.

It's fun to find things like this out of the blue. I know I probably should have begun paying closer attention to nature earlier in my life, but I guess what matters is that I'm doing it now!

Back-post 9/27/10: cecropia moth caterpillar

While walking around after a picnic at Keystone State Park, I spotted this colorful caterpillar (who strikingly resembles the famous caterpillar in the children's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar) in the gravel path. I had no idea what kind of winged creature this could become, but I used a stick to move him from the middle of the path to the wooded area nearby.

Because I am not an entomologist, I consulted my favorite entomologist and nature-loving friends to determine what kind of caterpillar I had fallen in love with.

Evidently, this is a cecropia caterpillar. My entomologist friend told me that they cecropias are the largest moth in North America and that this poor guy probably got dislodged from its host plant. I was also informed that I was quite lucky to spot this fella. It made me smile for like a week, knowing that I had seen a really rare natural sight.