Hiding in Plain Sight

This is the first praying mantis I have seen in a week, and I only saw her because my eye was caught by the toes-up carcass of a fly on the same leaf. A moment later the fly was blown off the leaf and it took me a couple of minutes to see the mantis again, without the fly.

The future is promising for the mantis tribe in my garden. I have found 16 fresh egg cases, though one mysteriously vanished leaving only the pattern of its anchor still attached to the iron standard it was on. A thorough search of the ground beneath it had no result. Still, 15 is a great number. Last year I couldn’t find any.

As predicted, the nor’wester picked up this afternoon, with some mighty gusts, but unlike yesterday it was rather cool. Last night I felt an earthquake. Compared to the sudden whumps of the wind gusts it felt like a gentle rocking. I hope it was no worse elsewhere.