What I saw today

I went downstairs to pick up my mail, and on the way back to my apartment spied this little critter on the door frame of one of the ground-floor units. I came back down with my good camera and snapped a few pictures. (Much bigger versions are available for you just a click away.)

I have not seen a praying mantis since moving to Nevada. I didn't even know that any lived here, though it makes sense that they would, given the abundant supply of crickets for food.

I think they are magnificent creatures. He (or she--who can tell?) was much more intense green than shows up in these photos. I suspect the blue paint tricked the camera's sensors somehow, and caused the green to be muted artifactually. He really isn't pale and washed-out as these pictures make him appear.

Alas, he did not seem to be thriving. He seemed weak and stumbling and slow-moving. The temperature here dropped down to 37 degrees last night, and that can't be good for him and his kind.

I worried that some dork would deliberately kill him as something grotesque, or he might get accidentally stepped on if he moved onto the sidewalk from where he was precariously hanging, so I gently moved him to the other side of the sidewalk, onto a shrub. Look at how nicely he camouflages!





I fear that he won't last more than another day or two, but he brightened my life for the day just by existing, and by reminding me of other places I have lived where a diversity of wildlife is more abundantly apparent when strolling around than it is in the desert of Las Vegas.