Which photo do you like better? (If you fear bugs, DO NOT LOOK)

[bertha katzenengel]

Poll question: Which photo do you like better? (If you fear bugs, DO NOT LOOK)

I WARNED YOU!

This creature was near the stairs up to my house when I got home last night. S/he was kind enough to wait for me to pee, change my clothes, and feed & visit with the outdoor kids before I brought my camera down.

Which photo do you like better? (And don't think I didn't nearly soil myself while shooting these....)

~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~ * ~~

PRAY


PRAY MORE

[H5N1]

1. That is one awesome bug

[clydefrand]

7. This is a praying mantis. Very interesting insect. It won't

hurt you, but the female likes to eat the head off the male after mating. They lay their eggs in a tan hardened foamy mass, similar in texture and appearance to styrofoam. They attach this egg case to a twig and many, many little praying mantids hatch out. I once had an egg case that hatched in my drawer in my classroom! Came in one day and opened the drawer to discover it crawling with these cute little critters. They are very helpful insects because they feed on aphids which suck the juices from plants...ones that you don't want sucked!! They do have some sharp claws (toenails?) and can stick them in your skin if held in the wrong way.

[bertha katzenengel]

13. woo hoo!

Knew it was a praying mantis, but I didn't know all that other stuff (except the first sentence. AAAAAHHHHH!!). Thanks!

[supernova]

14. She does that so he

performs more.... enthusiastically. ;-)

[Richard D]

19. I got bit by one once . . .

. . . drew blood too.

[tedoll78]

2. PRAY.

I find the scale of contrast and the level of detail on the mantis' body & stone to be a bit better on the first one.

[bertha katzenengel]

yeah...

Automatic digital camera. Bleagh. Gonna have to sit on Santa's lap for the digital SLR this year.

For both, the camera was sitting on the block. In the first one, I turned off the flash.

For both, I had to hold my hand behind the mantis *SHUDDER* in order to get the camera to focus properly. And it didn't quite work in the flash photo. :eyes:

*SHUDDER* AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Last year I was on the front porch shooting one of these buggers, when it jumped off the window screen and onto my cheek. Instant mexican hat dance. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[kikiek]

8. Pray looks like his head is cocked and he's smiling.

[drduffy]

3. aaaahhhhh

I really really like Mantis'es. though I never can tell if I've captured a male or female. Like most females in my life, the mantis females, eat their mates. So I guess I should pray.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Cool pic ..cool bug

[Maple]

5. A preying mantis is a

beautiful creature. I've always liked them.

I voted for Pray More, because the quieter background make the mantis itself stand out more.

[Clintmax]

11. I agree...

I've always loved mantis', but I haven't seen one in a long time. Now, cockroaches...*YUCK*! If there were only three left on the planet and were an endangered species, I'd be the guy going...

*STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP*

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. I'm going to sound silly but, the first one actually looks expressive...

seriously. You got a 24 hour cam you could set up? I'd watch. :hug:

[bertha katzenengel]

9. LOLOLOLOL

:rofl:

Actually, I have one more photo that's almost identical to PRAY. The insect moved its head -- that's the only difference. If you flash back and forth between them . . . AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[Misunderestimator]

20. LOL!

I'm there if you're there! :rofl:

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. Deal! Have you seen the baby lately? His eyes are open!! and

he rolls around a lot! :hi: :hug:

[johnnie]

10. When I was a child

I used to have those things all over my backyard. I would put one of them and a grasshopper in a jar and see who would win. The mantas won every time. I was weird.

[MuseRider]

12. Great shots Bertha!

Wow!

Cool aren't they? I don't see them real often but when I do I always have to stop and spend some time looking at them.

Thanks, it is nice right now to look at something that intrigues me rather than makes me so sad and mad I want to pull my hair out.

[bertha katzenengel]

15. Intrigue? You'd've dug the katydid I found several nights ago on the

bathroom window screen. She was trying to chew on the screen. There were these six or eight tiny white - I dunno, mandibles? Teeth? - chewing on the threads in the screen. It made the slightest little clicking noise. Very, very cool.

[MuseRider]

17. That is awesome!

I make a point to stop and appreciate all of the strange things I see. There are some very strange things if you look. Now the katydid story is something I have never seen or heard of. I would have loved to have seen that.

One day as a kid I was sitting on the front porch watching a spider making a web. A fly came a little too close and the spider (just a little thing) jumped and caught it while it flew by. It hung onto it until the fly stopped flying and boy was that a ride. Then it did the spider thing of wrapping it. That was the very first experience I can remember and ever since then I have watched closely when the opportunity comes up because that was just too cool.

Awesome about the katydid, I had no idea they even had teeth (or whatever).

[bertha katzenengel]

22. Wow! What a spider!!

I went to get the camera to shoot the katydid, but Toby followed me back into the bathroom and jumped into the window, and she flew away. :(

[MuseRider]

24. Ahh too bad.

Still a cool memory. It is always those odd things I tend to remember.

[applegrove]

16. Cute.

[DS1]

18. Is the second one infra-red?

[bertha katzenengel]

23. No...

at least I don't think so. It's just on automatic, and even though the sun wasn't down yet, it flashed. I had to turn off the flash for the other photo.

[khashka]

25. Awwww! S/He's so damn cute!

But "pray" is the better photo.

Khash.