Sep 21 2014
Yesterday while slow cooking my red beans and rice and on a trip out to my smoking deck I had this visitor. I have always been intrigued by this majestic looking insect. I think it is the largest insect we have here in NW Ohio.
Years ago at work a friend and I talked a lot about our gardens and flowers. One day he brought me in a twig with a cocoon like sac attached about 1 .5 inches long. He said this is a praying mantis egg sac, take it home and put it outside and it will hatch in the spring. They are good insect eaters.
I had a butterfly house on my shed so I put it inside. Next spring I tried to keep an eye out for them. I forgot about it and then one day went out to check and there were hundreds of the little things all over the window frame next to the butterfly house. They were about ½ inch long and already looked like the adults. I read where the female will lay from 10 to 400 eggs. A large number of them parish to larger insect eaters or from each other, they are carnivorous.
In the species common here the females are all green and the males have brown wings. They do eat a lot of insects but are not choosy; they eat bad and beneficial insects.
Mating is dangerous for the male since often the female will bite the head off the male and eat it after mating. Their life span is about 12 months.
Below is a shot of the mantis. Also some I shot the other day of my birds, one of the straggler female hummer that is staying and a couple of a gold finch. I saw the female today the 22nd; she seems reluctant to head south. Last year the last day I saw one was Sep 20th.
Male Mantis
While I am playing with my photography my faithful companion is usually laying and guarding his yard looking for any intruders!
Smokin Don
