Profiles in Discourage

I saw this little preying mantis around 7 pm tonight, my first preying mantis of the year. She was not too into me following her around so when she jumped to the top of the fence, she thought she had successfully discouraged me. Oh no. Not me. But she's an ambitious little bug. I watched her try to figure out whether she could leap for the gutter on the side of the house or not.

I saw her look right and I saw her look left but she was not about to give me the satisfaction of looking at me. She decided against leaping for the gutter.

And went over the side of the fence instead.

Which Violet thinks is not such a bad idea.

Because she knows it's impossible to discourage me once I have a camera in my hands, even when I can't get anyone to look at me.

A sunny day and that means.....BUGS!!!!

I was heading out the door today and surprise, it was a sunny day and almost 60 degrees and sure enough, on the front screen porch......bugs. The temperatures have been dropping into the 20s at night but today, since it was kind of "warm," on my front porch were one praying mantis, several ladybugs and a lacewing....all on the porch screen warming their tummies. There was also one stinkbug on the molding ......but he never moved. :-/ This guy however, was pretty animated and was enjoying the sun. He had quite the expression (but what's up with the lumpy complexion?).

Every praying mantis I met over this past summer has had a different personality, and mission. They helped me with the grasshopper problem, were amused by bees forcing themselves to the very bottom of the turtleheads, beheaded an ant, grabbed something from a spider web for a quick snack, attacked me (!), but generally I'm impressed with all of them for their grace and how they took the time to consider the things around them. They're pretty patient. They're not jumping and  flying around like other bugs. If you see one in a spot in the morning, chances are he or she will be near the same spot at night. 

A profile, late in the day, of what is probably my last praying mantis photo of the year ...

I remember telling Sherry how much I missed photographing my backyard insects (and this was a month ago) and she told me to just go to a park and lift up some leaves and that I'd  find the bugs. "Oh, they're there Maria." It hasn't gotten to that point yet because I'm still bringing in my plants every night and putting them out again in the morning. And so every night a stinkbug or two comes in and also about a dozen lacewings. And in the morning they all go out again.

Last night Violet was captivated with a stinkbug that was active in the kitchen.

Violet would paw him down into that stack of  plastic pot covers for plants (I got them at a nursery years ago because I liked the colors-I've never used them though).

After the stinkbug got knocked down, he would just crawl back up the wall...to be pawed down again.

I had always been afraid (?) of stinkbugs because I thought the little things carried a concentrated stink like a skunk. I guess you can't shake them up that easy because I sure have tested them, and now, so has Violet. That stinkbug would not oblige us with a stink. He didn't care. Crawling up the wall and being knocked down was just something to do until he got to go out the next morning.

Interesting little stinkers, that's what they are. >:-)

And so, this should be the last bug post of the year and I'm closing it with a photo of this lazy girl. She's dragging her flying wings and that shadow is long but her makeup still looks good (even though I think she got a little carried away with the application of her beauty spots).

Possibly, probably, almost certainly, my last post about insects for the year (no promises)

Every year at this time, I have to bring in all my plants when the night temperatures get below freezing. But then I put them all back out again when it warms up because I have no idea how I can permanently fit all those plants in the house. This happens every year and for some reason it is always a surprise. So in and out and out and in we go and with that comes a lot of confusion from the bugs that accidentally get carried indoors. 

This morning I heard a bunch of whacks coming from the kitchen and found an overly enthusiastic green stinkbug launching itself into the walls. So he got escorted out of the house.

And then there are the lacewings. Lots and lots of lacewings. What is unusual about them is that they pick just one kitchen light to congregate under. I have two identical overhead lights but just one of them works for them. When I brought them in the first time last weekend, they were green. I was a little surprised with this one who was climbing around the coffeepot all......coffee colored. So she got put outside. Look at the size of those eyes! I think the term for that is caffeination!

But I believe she is saying thank you for keeping her warm overnight. And for the coffee.

And then she launched her little latte colored self off to somewhere else (after she jumped on me and the camera....oh why do they keep doing that?).

This morning a little ladybug joined me on the computer, too lazy to tuck in her flying wings. And no spots. I guess on a Sunday morning, even ladybugs take a day off from applying their makeup.

And every year there is always one praying mantis. I'm never sure what to do. I usually escort them right back outdoors, which is what I did with this guy after I took some pictures. He seemed to be pretty fascinated with the smoothness of my glossy enamel painted kitchen walls.

I tried to get a picture of him on something more interesting but he would have none of it. He scrambled back to the wall in no time flat. He was fascinated with that wall.

I realized it was kind of weird to see a praying mantis in your kitchen, let alone play with it.

Sherry said she kept a praying mantis on her ficus tree one winter. He was good for conversation when guests came over. I might have done the same thing with this guy if I didn't recognize that expression on his face.

I get that expression from my turtles almost constantly. Add one more? That would mean three and if you have three, you have a collection. And a collection of mean faces is something I don't want to start. So out he went, even though he was resistant for some reason. 

Maybe my last praying mantis post for the year, maybe.

It is a beautiful day today. Blue sky, lots of monarchs, in the high 8os, and there is a block party going on right now so I get to listen to live Zydeco. But a little earlier I saw this guy...

I felt bold and picked him up to have a look at him. He was not too into it.

I put him down.

But then I picked him up again..........only to put him back down. He was getting very put out by this.

"That looks like a good place to get away from this very unpleasant woman...well, actually any place would be better than where I am now."

This is not a good thing when you see a praying mantis doing this.

Getting closer.

Yeesus (as my Norwegian relatives would say)!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAGH!

I could not get him off of me. As soon as I thought I had him off my camera, he had jumped on my arm, and when I thought I got him off my arm, he jumped to my shoulder. AAAAAAAAGH. 

Meanwhile, Cathy Jean was taking all this in while I twirled around trying to get that darn praying mantis away from my face!! If anyone looked in my backyard, they might think some middle-aged woman was dancing alone to the accordian music... sincerely and  furiously.

Okay, calmness. I managed to put the praying mantis on the elm tree. I watched him nervously. He scrutinized me. He was pretty fed up. But then he saw an ant coming down the tree. The praying mantis did a little dance (I suppose Zydeco music could make even bugs start moving to a beat). He continued his weird little shaky dance up the tree...and then positioned himself above the ant. They looked at each other. The ant was probably as confused by the mantis's stupid looking dance as Cathy Jean was with my twirling one.   

They considered each other and then...BAM. The ant was headless (I think the praying mantis was thinking of doing the same thing to me). I watched him chomp away while he carefully licked his fingers to keep them clean. My camera's battery ran low during all of this (of course) so that was that. The rest of the insects are overjoyed that they get the rest of the day off from me sticking a camera in their business. Right now they are listening and singing along to live human music while they celebrate my absence in the backyard.

Visitors and residents from this weekend

This morning I caught Cathy Jean by surprise when she was taking a nap in the sun with her front legs dangling over the side of this 2x10 piece of wood. It was pretty cute. But Cathy Jean didn't want me to see her so relaxed so she woke up and shot me this mean look. While I tried to take her picture, she scrambled as fast as she could to find an area where I couldn't see her.

Not far away from her, there was an orb weaver who had built a web between the two hanging baskets of lantana.

The monarch who came into the yard to enjoy the lantana stayed at the top of the baskets. Safe.

A funnel-web spider took in some sunshine (their webs are all over everywhere, this is the only funnel-web spider I could find out in the open and he was huge!).

Praying mantis in the backyard.

Praying mantis in the frontyard.

Praying mantis pondering on the front porch.

When the two stray cats are done eating dinner, the leftovers go to this juvenile possum. Possums are just the strangest looking things. They look like they walk on four little pink fingered hands. This guy is cute and when he scampers away, he is fast! He doesn't have that ambling waddle that the older ones have.

You can't tell in this picture but that gray cat I despise is passed out on the bench behind him. Full tummy.

Another orb weaver in the backyard is busy reweaving this web. The little possum is eating right below him. I probably should not be out with my camera and its flash while the police helicopters are flying over my backyard with their searchlights. It's your typical Saturday night. They're searching for the kind of wildlife I don't want in my backyard. That only happened once.

And then there is this beautiful thing. This Pandora sphinx moth was on my front porch screen when I was on my way out tonight. I hope he's still there tomorrow morning so I can take a picture of him in his real colors (he's supposed to be olive and dark pink!!!). This was done with a flash at night so I won't know the real colors until I see him tomorrow morning.

I got out a ruler and measured him. He's 2.5 inches wide between the bottom tips of the wings. I'm leaving the porch light off tonight so I'm the only one who knows he's there. And hopefully, tomorrow, he'll still be there and I'll have a photo that is even prettier. :-)

Watching me, watching you

A couple days ago when I was photographing the 18th century insect prints, I looked to my right because I thought something was watching me (how many of my bug essays start out like that?). Sure enough, once again I was being watched. But not by a grasshopper, this is the week for praying mantises.

It looked like he had grabbed a prepackaged fastfood something from a nearby spider web. He held it one hand while he continued to watch me. Apparently I am extraordinarily good entertainment for insects. 

I looked to the right for some reason and found his old shell. I couldn't photograph it too well because it weighed nothing and any slight movement I made, made it quiver. It actually blew away while I was photographing it but I managed to retrieve it....from a spider web.

While I tried to photograph the shell, the praying mantis started to eat his McSandwich o'sorts.

I thought what he had in his hand was some dried up dusty old dead thing.

I was a little taken aback with what was under that webby crust of dust.

Nasty. 

BatMantis

That's what Meg calls this guy.

Because he hangs upside down like a bat.

But also because he's like the superhero Batman. He's helping me keep my backyard free of the criminal element known as grasshopper.

He can't look at the camera anymore because he has to has to get back to business. "Just doing my job, Ma'am." 

Cue the theme from "The A Team." Help has arrived.

"I heard you needed some help."

"I see the problem."

"Come here chicken.....chick chick chick chick chick chickHEN!!!!"

"Chicken? Huh, whodat?"

(they slowly edged toward each other............ slowly................carefully..............slowly.......maybe a little more slowly for one of them.......)

(closer.......closer.........carefully.................closer.......)

"Okay, now would be a good time for you to jump........"

"Zzzzzzzzz...."

"DUDE!!!!" "WAKE UP!" "You really have to lay off the datura. Now listen to me. Focus. If you don't jump now, I eat you. End of game."

"Wha'?" "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

"Oh, this is ridiculous. Here, let me give you a little push." 

"Idiot!" "Okay lady, that's one down. How you holding up over there?"