Sunday, August 11, 2013

The Dragon Guarding the Garden

I was outside reading this afternoon and pleased at not being bitten even once by this year's mosquitoes which seem bigger and fiercer than ever before, when I realized why the patio was so human friendly.




I had a dragon in the garden.  A nice praying mantis, just a few feet from where I was sitting.  A fierce predator, very little can stand up against Mrs Mantis,and I am betting she had had a nice lunch of biting insects.  As I watched her, she groomed her face with one foreleg then the other, and then studied me closely.

Maybe she was posing for her picture.  She did a nice side view and a front view.  My neighbor came over to admire her, since he loves insects as much as I do, as small animals.

Always good to have a mantis on your side.

8 comments:

  1. We always had praying mantis at our old home and often had at least one inside over the summer. I'm not really a bug person but I love them and the way they study you when you get close to them.

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  2. Hmmm - maybe she was studying you so closely with an eye towards having you for lunch?

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  3. I wonder why I thought they were green ?

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  4. A lot of them are, but this one blended in perfectly with the spent foliage on my pony palm, which is why I never spotted her before. Not sure if they can change color to match, like chameleons, but perhaps some are always this brownish color.

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  5. Ahhh...I remember them from Ontario! We don't have them here in the frozen north, but have had an explosion of dragonflys this summer - lots of mosquitoes due to the flood, water water everywhere....great picture, really enjoyed seeing one again - Jean

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  6. We have nothing such here, she does look quite stately like a dragon. I could use one though for the flies!

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  7. How very neat to have a praying mantis in the garden. I've never seen a real one. Lovely photos.

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