Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Kamakiri (カマキリ) AKA a Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis, flower, lily, garden

On an Easter Lily

 

 

It was raining and, I was under a carport when I first spotted the critter.

Don't let the photo fool you.  I rotated it for a better view.

The praying mantis, was using the lily as an umbrella, I think.


Praying Mantis, white background, side view, indoors


The cold rain, soaking me started getting on my nerves so, I came up with an idea.

Without disturbing the predator, I snipped the flower off the plant with some scissors.

And, I brought the Easter Lily into my office. Mrs. Yamashiro will never notice, hope.

While I was running around the office, looking for some white paper, the bug got busy.

It crawled up inside the flower so, I couldn't see its head. That wasn't a good idea.

First, I snipped off the other end of the lily but, still couldn't get a good shot.

The next thing I did, was cut the whole flower wide open and, shook the bug out.

Once, it got on that white paper, I had to do some fast shooting.

The rascal, didn't seem too excited and, just gave me a dirty look.


 Then I decided, it might be a good idea, to tryout a black background.

Only a few quick shots were taken here and, the mantis started running around.

It climbed up the wall, all the way to the ceiling and, I couldn't reach it.

So, I grabbed a stepladder and Mrs. Yamashiro's shredded flower, to catch the thing.

The idea, was to get the thing, back out in nature, untouched by human hands.

When, I bounced off the ladder, with the bug inside the flower, it escaped.

It flew, directly at me and, landed on my shoulder.  Out the door, I went.

Then, I ran back over to the garden, I shook myself like a wet puppy.

The last time I saw the bug, it gave me a dirty look and, ran down my back.

Bugs don't scare me but, praying mantis are, really some wild characters.

Did you know, sometimes a female will bite her mate's head off, while they're having sex ?

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