11.1.24 ~ North Carolina Botanical Garden
On Tim’s and Finn’s birthday the grandkids happened to have a day off from school, so we took them to the botanical garden so they could participate in a sculpture scavenger hunt designed for children. After we had located all but two of the selected sculptures we were stumped. Katherine and I went to the outdoor information booth to get an adult map to help us with a little detective work. But Finn and Tim went inside to ask for help inside the welcome center.
While inside there Finn spotted this praying mantis walking across the floor! Tim asked for a piece of paper and they offered the insect a ride outside to the garden on the sheet, which it accepted. After letting if off in the greenery Tim got this picture with his cell phone. Surely a token of good luck for grandfather and grandson on their shared birthday!
Beautiful creatures … and Happy belated Birthday to Tim and Finn.
Thank you, Frank.
Such cool bugs!
Yes!
Great capture! And what a spot of good luck seeing him!
Thank you, Debbie! It was definitely their lucky day. 🍀
Good job, Finn! And happy belated birthday. 🥳 🎂
Many thanks, Eliza! 🍀:)
It was serendipity wasn’t it Barbara! How nice Finn saw the praying mantis inside the welcome center because it sure blends in with its surroundings! I have never seen a praying mantis, just in photographs.
Last year I was at Belle Tire and sitting in the waiting room and saw a walking stick bug on the outside windows. I was fascinated, having only seen photos of them before. No one was looking at it so I decided to stand up and say “look at this walking stick!” It was huge!
Definitely serendipity! If we hadn’t been having trouble finding those last two sculptures the guys would never have gone inside the welcome center that day.
14 years ago I had a praying mantis in my garden. And we had seen one 18 years ago on my sister-in-law’s house. I’m sorry I missed seeing the one Finn spotted.
https://www.ingebrita.net/2010/08/mantidae-stagomantis/
That’s amazing that you discovered a walking stick, in the city no less! My father showed me one in the woods when I was a little girl, and I do remember being impressed with how big it was. I’ve never seen one since.
Hi Barbara – thanks for the link and I just posted a comment there, but it did not show up so I will post it here as well, as I can’t remember if last time it showed up just for you, but I couldn’t see it, but since it is an older post, I’ll comment here. I hope I do see one some day. The walking stick was such a treat – yes, they are big and I’m glad you got to see one too. They are amazing to see – nothing to them and impressive since it was on the glass, so I could see just how large it was!
My other comment – if it showed up, just delete this if you wish.
“Barbara, thank you for sharing this link to your 2010 post. First, that praying mantis would be so easy to miss as it is so well camouflaged well. Second, I have heard of that book before and never knew what it was about. Thank you for the synopsis. As for the praying mantis, I understand that it will pray upon hummingbirds too. That surprises me because any photos I’ve seen of praying mantises they look so skinny or spindly looking and hummingbirds are huge next to them. But when I bought my hummingbird feeders during the first year of the pandemic, I researched online about feeding the hummingbirds, where to put feeders and learned never to put them near bushes or greenery where a praying mantis might lurk. I was shocked! This is not the norm and only happens if the praying mantis has not been able to find/eat insects, its usual diet, so it then will attack hummingbirds or other small birds.”
That’s interesting about your comment not showing up on the older post — it shows up there for me. Anyhow, I left a response there if you want to check back and see if it’s showing up now. I do wonder if I’ll ever see a walking stick again, but I guess once in a lifetime is more than the chance some people will have. Wish I had a camera back then! You didn’t say if you got a picture of the one you saw.
I can see that I got a response back. I think it was a glitch in WordPress because for a while, even if you were already logged in, you still had to put your name, e-mail address and blot site info to be able to do a comment. That’s nice they fixed it. I did not have the camera with me as I went right to Belle Tire to be there when they opened and was going on errands afterward. So, that was too bad as it was a large plate glass window, so I could have approached it and taken the photo as a close-up.
Funny how often that happens — leave the camera at home and you come across an unexpected photo op! Sometimes I use my cell phone camera but I’m usually disappointed with the results.
I told myself I have to learn how to use the Lively (formerly Jitterbug) smartphone over the Winter. I really only got it for the medical features (not needed now hopefully) and they also have vetted Lyft drivers (something I’m not keen on doing, but since I have no one I could ask in an emergency or medical situation, I at least have a backup plan). I took a few videos last year (Mrs. Cardinal and the two Opossums) but then tried to do a walkaround of the backyard after Jacob finished and came in to see pics of my feet. 🙂 The pictures I’ve figured out, even though they aren’t great, but that’s about it. I don’t carry it with me outside of the house. I have a small flip phone I’ve had for years and keep that with me when walking because if I’d need it in an emergency, I don’t have to figure out how to use it first. The only time I used the flip phone was to call Animal Control when the ducklings fell down the sewer. By the time they got there, a crowd had gathered and a neighbor fished all but one out of the sewer.
A special lucky token for sure!
It was their lucky day! 🍀
This is a wonderful photo with a good story to go with it. I’m smiling.
Thank you, Ally. Wish it had been an eyewitness account but I was happy to share the story and glad Tim thought to get a picture!
Please pass on Happy Birthday wishes from us to the most important men in your life, Barbara. That was a wonderful place to share the day with them. They were gifted a praying mantis! How unusual that the praying mantis was inside! How did it manage to get inside?!? We have praying mantis and walking sticks here. It’s always a sweet surprise to notice them. Tim and Finn did a good deed of kindness escorting it to a camouflage space outside to explore.
Did you find the last two sculptures of the hunt?
Many thanks for the birthday wishes, Teri! I have no idea how (or why) the praying mantis wandered inside of the building! Yes, we did find the last two sculptures. I wonder if you have the giant walking sticks in your area. AI says they can be over six inches long and are found in the south central states. My father probably spotted a common walking stick, three or four inches long.
3-4 inch long is usually the size I see here. We have been enjoying the most gorgeous weather!!😊
So happy to hear you’re having some great weather! 🙂 We finally got our first freeze of the season yesterday, the latest ever in this area.