A Praying Predator

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Ddaddy

Ddaddy

I'm changing the World... one pixel at a time!
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Location
SW of Philly PA
I caught a pic of this little predator on the patio umbrella on our deck. He is in full hunt mode, just waiting for a meal to happen by. Either that, or he is trying to open the umbrella!

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I love insects. That's a cool shot! Thanks for sharing it!
 
Go get a cricket or grasshopper in some tweezers and feed im
 
Ddaddy said:
Nah, he is a pure American bug. He only wants to be left alone, work hard and feed himself...and he won’t take a handout.
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If you want to put a bunch of those bugs in a jar and send 'em here.....
 
Ddaddy said:
I caught a pic of this little predator on the patio umbrella on our deck. He is in full hunt mode, just waiting for a meal to happen by. Either that, or he is trying to open the umbrella!

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I see those around here once in a while...

Sometimes I even see a walking stick...
 
i like the way they'll spin their head and watch movement.
Another miracle is the Monarch butterfly.I often give kids a caterpillar in a jar to watch the transformation.
 
A young grade school teacher I know, found a couple egg sacks on twigs a couple years ago.
Thought they'd be neat to have in her class room.
The next spring they hatched. She had hundreds of babies in her room.
 
I used to see them more as a kid. Very cool indeed.
ir3333, I did the same thing as a kid, but mine was an egg on the bottom of milkweed plant. Took plant home and then let it go thru all of its stages to a Monarch butterfly and let it go. Very cool colors too!
I believe they are near "endangered" now unfortunately.
ir3333 said:
i like the way they'll spin their head and watch movement.
Another miracle is the Monarch butterfly.I often give kids a caterpillar in a jar to watch the transformation.
Click to expand...

gunbunny said:
A young grade school teacher I know, found a couple egg sacks on twigs a couple years ago.
Thought they'd be neat to have in her class room.
The next spring they hatched. She had hundreds of babies in her room.
Click to expand...
 
As a child I kept them in jars and fed them house flys.
The last one maggots erupted from its abdomen.
It was like alien or something gross.

 
Along the lines of wild life, this is a tree frog in Kitty's bird bath I took a picture of not long ago. It was a tick over 3.5" long. Biggest one I've ever seen. Just a "little" green tree frog. I've seen some BIG bullfrogs, but this is by far the biggest tree frog I've ever seen.

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Ddaddy said:
Thanks! I wish I could post a better image here. The actual pic is crisp enough that you can count every hair and spike on its legs.
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I was going to say that must be related to the one that was hanging out in my kitchen last year.
But pulling up the photos, more like a distant cousin.
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I tried to figure out the specific type of mantis using the bugguide.net but to do it right really need know insect taxonomy.
But its fun trying to match pictures. I just typed in mantis into the search box.
This one looks close. Praying Mantis - Tenodera sinensis - BugGuide.Net


adriver said:
As a child I kept them in jars and fed them house flys.
The last one maggots erupted from its abdomen.
It was like alien or something gross.
Click to expand...
A couple years ago I I brought a tomatoe hornworm to my neighbor for ID, and he put it a terrarium for observation. A couple days later his comes downstairs to find the terrarium was alive with microwasps that had burst from it!

A few days later I found another hornworm - same location - and within a day or two I got to take a couple of photos of the cocoons.
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edit:Hornworm wasp Species Cotesia congregata - BugGuide.Net
and larvea emergence explaned Univ of Fla.: Cotesia congregata - a parasitoid wasp
 
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Saw these clinging to a float as a LGBTQRSTUwhatever parade was passing, flamin' insects, what's next?
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Lets get back to some more real backyard critters that prey.
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Some sort of dragonfly hanging out on the clothesline.
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Did Ya know that Monarch is the only butterfly to migrate? it migrates to the Yucatan peninsula to hibernate and mate, it cannot overwinter in pupae or larva stage.
 
Did you know that a Monarch butterfly's main stay is Milk weed? And as the milkweed disappears from the insecticides we lose the butterfly as well. I don't spray and have areas that I mow only once a year. I have many mantis's and egg sacks
 
I have noticed around here in GA there aren't as many butterflies anymore, and when I was younger the Jaybirds would drive ya crazy with their constant squawking, not anymore, seldom see a roadkill rabbit either, I also hear the over abundance of copperheads have eaten most of the black snakes or rat snakes, lots of armadillo's though. sad.
 
i don't cut milkweed and i know people that have it in their flower gardens for the monarchs.
 
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