Kamakiri (カマキリ) AKA a Praying Mantis

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.

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 ?

In the Wild -- A Pair of Mating Ryukyu Damselflies (Photos)

Warning: Maybe the Younguns Shouldn't Look

 

 

The research was kind of difficult on these insects but, we gotterdun.

First, I'll introduce you to the single male.

That gives you time to send the kids outside or, to play with their game-thingies.

 

Ryukyurimontonbo (リュウキュウルリモントンボ) is what he's called, in Japan.

Coeliccia ryukyuensis ryukyuensis would be the Latin name.

Okinawa Yanbaru Field Guide, helped me do the identification.

ISBN978-4-408-32351-0

That is a good guidebook, with lots of photos but, no English.

So, I use several methods to do my search.

When, you type,

 
Ryukyurimontonbo (リュウキュウルリモントンボ) in an English search engine,  doesn't work.

So, I take the Japanese characters and put them in one of their search boxes.

Sometimes, I even use the Chinese sites.  Whatever it takes.

All kinds of ignorance, left my brain today.

That bug, up there, I thought he was trying to swat the fly. Wrong.

Are Those Children Gone Yet ?

 

 

 

What that rascal is doing, is getting ready for sex.

 

He probably doesn't even know the fly is there. Other things are on his mind.

 Off he went, to grab some female, by the back of her neck.

It's a good thing, I read all the resources about how these insects mate.

My excuse for going home late tonight, won't work, now.

There's no sense, telling the wife, I met a gal with a vagina on the back of her head.

That excuse won't work, anymore but, it might have, if it was true.

An expert on the subject, would tell you, the male, is using that blue tip, to grab the gal.

In the first photo, he was probably, transferring stuff, from one penis to another.

The scientists say, when the female is ready, she gets in the position above.

She has to bring her Doohickey up to meet his, is what, I think they mean.

And, they call this, the wheel formation.

Well, in Okinawa, people consider that to be the shape of a heart not, a wheel.

It may not look like a heart, to you.

 

Not wanting to disturb them at such a tender moment, I waited until I got back here.

 

And, flipped the photo so,  you could view the heart shape.

Can you see it ?

Learn more about these insects:

 

About (dot) Com 

 Things Biological 

 Insects of Okinawa

 

 

Have You Ever Pulled A Willie? Or Is It A Doozy?

No, I'm not talkin about sex, drugs or even rock n roll, here.  They have other channels for that sorta stuff.

If that's what you were thinkin, you took a wrong turn.  Get outa here, quick !

People who appreciate good music know exactly what I'm talking about.  Me and the guy from Texas (Rusty) gabbed our cameras yesterday and pulled a Willie Nelson by gettin ON THE ROAD AGAIN.



We took it literally and went places where we've never been and stayed out in the hot sun most of the day just so we could shoot a sunset from someplace different than anybody else's sunsets in Okinawa, Japan.


We found some cool places to get out of the sun while we were waiting.  And I got plenty of practice with my cell phone camera. I sorta malfunctioned my Pentax and it was given most of the day-off.

    We kept going through holes in caves splashing our way along the coast finding more stuff to shoot.

     My Pentax had to be saved for one last shot at sunset so, I shot Rusty doing stuff with a real camera.

Most of the time, when I wasn't cussing at myself for leaving the PANASONIC DMC-FZ50 at home I was sneaking around trying to get photos of Rusty.  This way, his Mom can see he's not goofing-off too much over here.  He's learning all kinds of camera tricks, foreign languages and a few new cuss words from me.

I can't tell you what I did to my Pentax but, it was a doozy, whatever I did.  Maybe, I'll have to send it back to the factory for a rebuild. That takes too long and the people who see what I do to their cameras might come chasing after me with a bunch of those guys wearing white jackets.

Rusty's Mom knows Willie Nelson.  Maybe, she could call him and ask him to send money for me to buy one of those brand new Pentax K5 cameras.  That's what I'd call pulling a real Willie. 

Or would that be a doozy?


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