GA: Praying mantis!

Saw a green praying mantis wandering in my garden!  I have a feeling s/he must have come from an egg sac that someone bought, but who knows.  Cool regardless.

Praying mantis!!

Oh wow!  A praying mantis flew from the northmost carrots into the nearby Jasper tomato against the vertical structure!  Definitely flew.  Is green and skinny.  Amazing camouflage!  I wonder if someone in the neighbourhood bought a mantis egg sac and this fellow made his way here.  Not many "pests" around for him though -- although, tons of sparrows visiting the yard and I read that mantises can eat birds -- yikes...

Hadn't seen any mantises since that first one a few years ago, whose egg sac never "hatched" the next spring.

Still has not been frost yet (again) -- and saw praying mantis again today

More cold nights, but the zinnias are still intact so I know it hasn't been frost here yet.

Saw the praying mantis again today, still in that corner.  By later in the afternoon she was hiding / out of sight again.

Also, my hopes are pretty guarded about her eggs hatching.  It seems they lay eggs regardless whether they were fertilized or not.  I would be surprised if she had run into a male to mate with.

I found the praying mantis AND her egg sac!!!!

While starting to put the garden to bed today, wonder of wonders, I found the praying mantis AND her egg sac!!!

First I spotted her, at the very top of the bamboo stake at the sorrel (NE corner).  A few minutes later, I looked downward along the stake, and ------ voila!!!!  The egg sac!

So cool.

I had been worried that in my cleaning up I would have accidentally removed her and/or her sac.

Now, I know exactly where the eggs are so can keep an eye on them next spring! Woo!

Praying mantis in backyard!!!

Jasper found a praying mantis in the backyard!!  He was standing on the back step looking into the window well.  So, curious, I looked to see what might have caught his attention.

It was a huge, brown praying mantis, stuck in a spider web!!

Used a stick to retrieve the mantis, placed him/her on the zinnias.  Took a bunch of photos.  Later I moved him/her in the north back bed, just east of the cucumber trellis where I don't harvest anything and there's probably a nice diversity of critters. 

I've only ever seen a praying mantis once before (while walking dogs in west greenbelt).   So neat!

Hopefully I won't accidentally kill the mantis while moving about in the yard, harvesting, and putting things away...