Photo Challenge – Lime Green

On By TimelessladyIn Quirkiness

Do you see her? She is lime green and blends in perfectly with the bush she rests upon. I found her by following the sound of winged distress. An urgent flapping outdoors alerted me that a bird of some type was in crisis. I peered into the bush where the noise emanated from and saw a gigantic praying mantis in the midst of devouring a cicada. Surprised, I jumped back and in doing so interrupted the feast. The cicada fell to the ground and the mantis moved to a new branch. She’s a beauty, lime green, very large, and burdened with a swollen abdomen that predicts she will soon produce an egg case.

I gently took her indoors to show my cat. He is a scaredy-cat so I knew the mantis was not in jeopardy.

Just as I thought, the encounter was a stand-off, but I did get to see a sight unique to me; the mantis unfurled her wings and put on a very good display of aggression. She took on the stance of a boxer, ready to bop the inquisitive nose of Hans.

I’m torn now over having these amazing creatures living in my gardens. In the past, I delighted in finding one or more egg cases in my yard, but Praying Mantis are voracious insects; I’ve even heard horrible rumors that they can capture hummingbirds. I let her go back into the gardens, far away from any nectar-producing plants the hummers visit.

The mantis is part of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge/Lime or Light Green.

15 thoughts on “Photo Challenge – Lime Green”

  1. Wonder why Hans is a scaredy-cat . The praying mantis was safe from him and good you could save her. Are praying mantises good for the garden?
    The colours of all things in your post are great to demonstrate lime green- a late St. Patrick’s Day ?
    Susie

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Timelesslady

      Hi Susie, The lime green is a challenge by Cee’s Blog, called the Fun Foto Challenge. She offers a lot of blog challenges and they are good for helping a blogger find direction. I love all the challenges on the blogs. It’s also a good way to experience other blogs when I visit the posts they’ve created for the same challenge.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
    1. Timelesslady

      They are a strange bug. I will let them walk on me and they seem perfectly at home. I’ve been bitten by one once…it has a strong bite, but usually they are very calm. I wish they only devoured the bad bugs…then they’d be almost perfect.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Thanks so much for your comments. They fill my life with sunshine.