Last week, I showed you a bunch of tiny creatures in the garden. But we’ve also got a rather special LARGE one that’s made herself quite at home.
Yup… a big beautiful Praying Mantis. She showed up in the white butterfly bush on the edge of the catio around mid August. I only noticed her because I was inspecting the bloom spikes for the dreaded Japanese beetles.
As you can see, while she stands out against the green leaves, she blends quite nicely with the fading bloom splikes.
I check for her every day now, and she’s almost always in about the same spot of the bush. I’ve never seen her actually eating something, but the hunting must be good if she’s stuck around for this long.
She can be tricky to get a picture of, because of course, she sees REALLY well and she doesn’t like it if I get to too close. If I try to move a branch or leaf out of the way to get a better picture, she’ll move deeper into the bush.
But otherwise, my prescence doesn’t seem to bother her much.
And for bonus content:
The grasshoppers seem to love the butterfly bush too!
Wandering Cat Studio 
Great pictures Val!!!
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He’s a beauty! I wonder if the brown color shows maturity or the time of year?!
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I managed to capture some video of a Monarch in my Ironweed plant yesterday; it’s only the 2nd Monarch that I’ve seen in our yard all summer, despite the expanse of milkweeds and other yummy plants ready of them.
It’s been very dry, and hot, so who knows.
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I haven’t seen one of those in ages. I haven’t seen a grasshopper in ages either. Now that I’m thinking about it I haven’t seen any of the luna moths that show up this time of year. I wonder what that’s all about? It can’t be anything good.
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Your photographs are just awesome! I have only seen green praying mantises.
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Those are beautiful photos. I had a grasshopper clinging to our front door on Saturday. By the time I got my phone to take a picture, it was gone. You did an amazing job capturing yours for us.
Blessings,
Betsy
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