Now this was a surprise! I’ve always thought of praying mantises (manti?) as kind of cute. Until I saw this one enjoying lunch.
Now this was a surprise! I’ve always thought of praying mantises (manti?) as kind of cute. Until I saw this one enjoying lunch.
This is an amazing photograph.
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Oh dear, Su, sorry to see that. Amazing you caught it in your photo.
Leslie
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Oh my, nature isn’t always act as we would like, but it is about survival.
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Great photo. I am sure caterpillar is very juicy!
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Wow, thats amazing๐ฎ
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Oh, no!! Great photo, but oh, no. ๐ฆ
janet
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I love the way the thin lines move to the right – has a slight moving vibe – beautiful, Su
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What a great photo. And I like manti as the plural
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Thank you. I do too — not sure if it’s correct though.
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Apparently octopuses is the plural but I still use octopi. Be your own change ๐
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Go you! Octopi is so much better (and sounds very learned).
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It does sound learned
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Fabulous photo! The details are so crisp.
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Thank you. I still can’t believe I got so close to it for so long. I think watching through the camera viewfinder probably helped.
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Well at least the monarch caterpillar of take 1 made it into a butterfly. I really enjoyed take 1 and 3 (and no not for the same reason the Praying mantis is enjoying it)
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Thanks so much. We’re feeling very pleased that most of the monarch chrysalises emerged as viable butterflies. It has been a real joy to watch them.
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I can only imagine. The closest experience I had to that is silk worms
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๐ I’ve never seen silkworms.
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You know Su in this life everything is relative
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Absolutely ๐
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Great capture of nature in the raw….
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… and slightly nauseating! Thanks Sue. ๐
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๐
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Terrific picture. Brilliantly done!
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Thanks Anabel. I was torn between running away in revulsion and a slightly grotesque fascination with the whole process. The mantis actually chomped through the entire caterpillar.
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Nature at its best!
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๐ but pretty hard to watch.
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What a great photo Su. I wonder if they like Cabbage White caterpillars? If so perhaps you can send me some Praying Mantis for August. ๐
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Thanks Jude. I’m trying to imagine the conversation when I take that package to the post office!
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Yeh, customs might be a sticky issue.
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๐
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I liked this, but I don’t like this.
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I wasn’t too happy either. It was the last caterpillar on the milkweed. Though, to be fair, there wasn’t enough food for it and it probably wouldn’t have survived much longer anyway.
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When I watch nature shows, I always want the camera man to rescue the animal been stalked and killed. It goes against a biologist’s training to interfere, but my mama instinct is too strong to let harm come to a baby animal. I just have to leave the room until that part is over.
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I know what you mean. I can’t watch animals being hurt or killed, but yeah, the rational part of my brain says “this is how nature works”. With the monarch butterflies, we intervened to stop the caterpillars being eaten wholesale by wasps (I didn’t know about the praying mantis at that stage), but knew we were putting the system out of balance by letting too many caterpillars survive for the food that was available. It’s been a balancing act, but we think that about 70-75% percent of the chrysalis that have emerged are viable butterflies.
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If you have been following my blog for a while, you read about Mama Lynx spider and her spiderlings. (Steadfast Spider has Spiderlings) I was so worried about them during a storm that I went out and put a beach umbrella over her and her golden rod plant. My family thought it was nuts. They survived. (Spider in the Storm)
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Note to self: don’t read humorous comments while drinking coffee. I’ve just had to mop up the mess!!
I think we must be the same flavour of nuts. We built an entire shelter for our caterpillars — wooden frame and all. ๐
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Oh my! What a capture! Incredible that you managed to get this.
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Horrible, but quite compelling to watch.
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Incredible shot! But the poor little caterpillar… ๐ฆ But thatยดs nature for you, right? Survival of the fittest and all…
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Thanks. Yes, it was a bit shocking to find that the cute little mantis is such a predator. I do worry about interfering with nature, then I remember that the natural world is so out of balance because we humans interfered and we have some obligation to try and put things right. Although, with our imperfect knowledge, I wonder if we just do more harm. Sigh. xxxx
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Thatยดs exactly it, isnยดt it? We always think we know best, and then BOOM! 50 or 100 years later it turns out we had it all wrong and did more harm than intended…
But I think you can not do much harm by saving a couple of monarchs from the praying mantises(?). ๐
When I started feeding the squirrels I also wondered if I would interfere too much, but after a few seasons a couple of predator birds (mouseboussards and hawks) arrived in that little corner of the park and they take care of the possibility of an overpopulation ๐ Iยดm just glad I never saw them “at work” though!
Have a lovely weekend! xxxxxxxx
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Oh: I’m glad you didn’t have to see the birds at work either. I’ve watched a falcon eating (a piece of rabbit that the handler had given it) and it’s really not pretty.
Hope you have a fun weekend. There suddenly seems to be a lot on here, and I don’t know how I’m going to fit everything in. Actually, I’ll probably give up trying and spend too much time on the couch reading. ๐
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Me too! But I saw a squirrel paw lying around once last winter… ๐ฆ
Haha! I know these kind of weekends! ๐ And I can understand your reaction perfectly! Spending time on the couch reading a book is the best excuse one can make when overwhelmed with too much opportunities to divert oneself ๐ xxxx
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๐ I actually managed to have quite a busy weekend without doing any of the things I’d originally intended. I found a beautiful Obi (japanese kimono sash) in a cool shop that sells old Japanese stuff and am going to pull it apart to make a wall hanging. I love this particular shop, because it is full of all sorts of stuff — everything from little sake bottles to kimonos, sleeping mats, huge urns, and so much fabric. The Obi was about 12 euro (equivalent) and the Big T found a really good kitchen knife for 2 euro.
I hope you’re having a good weekend — with the right balance of activity and rest. ๐
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Ohh! I love Japanese things! Food, couture, art… you name it! ๐ (I secretly dream of having a small Japanese motorbike one day as they are the only ones I would be able to lift up if need be.) I have in mind to tailor my own Obi if I can find a suitable cloth. That shop of yours sounds like heaven! And the prices are just ridiculous – you would pay at least three times over for stuff like that around here. So now, Iยดm not only headed for visiting NZ because of you, that breathtaking nature and Hobbington but also Japanese shops! ๐ The list gros bigger and bigger…
Iยดve spent my weekend cleaning because a friend of mine comes for a little visit and everything needs to be shipshape ๐ But as it is still raining all the time that wasn’t even a bad thing ๐ xxxxxxx
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Awesome!!!! I know you will love the Japanese shop and get so much inspiration from all the stuff just packed in there. We will have such fun when you visit!!!
I’d really like to visit Japan sometime. The Big T has been several times, and actually worked onsite at one of the motorcycle plants for a couple of weeks. It’s never really worked for me to go with him, but I keep hoping that he will have another trip that I can go on.
I think I should probably invite someone to stay soon; it’s the best reason I can think of to clean the house.
๐ xxxxxxx
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A friend of mine moved to Japan just a month ago. She and her partner build a hotel in Yangshuo/China, sold it and are now planning to do the same there. We havenยดt seen each other in years now, and when I finally will make it to your side of the world, I would definitely visit her as well (given that she hasn’t packed up again and moved somewhere else ๐ ).
When I was little, I gave many singing and dancing performances in front of family members and friends, impersonating a Geisha – wearing my mumยดs kimono styled robe, hair bound up in a mass upon my head, wearing lipstick and singing made-up songs in made-up Japanese ๐
xxxxxxx
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Your friend sounds cool, and pretty brave to make projects like that in foreign countries.
And I do love the idea of little Sarah giving Geisha concerts.
๐ xxxxxxxx
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China wasnยดt much of a challenge for her since sheยดs Chinese ๐ We met in Berlin though, actually in a little community college where we both wanted to learn Spanish! Japan will be more challenging I guess ๐
If we could travel back in time, I would give a special performance just for you! ๐ xxxxxx
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I’ll add “figure out time travel” to my long and terrifying list.
I guess for your friend, there will be major cultural differences between Japan and China (and some residual discomfort over aggression in the past), but at least written language will be less of a barrier (unless I’ve got that wrong — I think Kanji uses Chinese characters). I love the idea of you bonding over learning Spanish. We have a Japanese friend who studied the Czech language and lived in Prague for a year. I found that a bit amazing and very inspiring. xxxxx ๐
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Please let me know as soon as youยดve figured it out! I know the basics though: all you need is a modified DeLorean and 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power ๐
Youยดre absolutely right about that she wonยดt have much trouble with the written language, itยดs basically the same characters. And she and her partner are already busy learning Japanese. Heยดs German though, and has just managed to learn a bit Chinese – itยดs a hell of a language! I tried to learn it when she lived here, but gave up.
As to the residual discomforts over aggressions in the past, Iยดve asked her about it and she said it was all surprisingly fine. But then she lives in a fairly touristy area (Okinawa), and I also think that them being investors and planning to bring more business and money to the area helps their cause a big deal ๐
I love that your Japanese friend learned Czech and lived in Prague for a year – I havenยดt been there yet but itยดs supposed to be a beautiful and very romantic place ๐
xxxxxxxx
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I asked my boys about it since they’re the science nerds of the family and they just rolled their eyes at me!
I haven’t been to Prague either. We were meant to go the New Year that Czechoslovakia became the two separate countries (which would have been cool), but we were really broke and couldn’t afford to ๐ฆ
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Yep, eyes rolling is pretty much what I get from science nerds as well ๐
Hope you will make it to Prague one day – and remember Berlin isnยดt really far from it ๐ xxxxxxx
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Good point!!! I would love to spend more time in Europe. It seems very far away now; which is odd, because even two years ago when I was last there, I didn’t feel that way.
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Well, about 20 hours of flight or more can do that to you I imagine ๐ We will see which one of us makes it first to the other side of the globe! ๐ xxxxx
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Now there’s a challenge!!!
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๐
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