As I was opening the front door this afternoon I noticed a beautiful praying mantis! I carefully maneuvered myself in the door, with a armful of groceries, being oh so careful as to not let the door slam and perhaps injuring the mantis. I did this because like many others I was led to believe that it was illegal to kill a praying mantis. A little research on the 'net was very informative...it is, in fact, NOT against the law to kill these lovely "religious" creatures. But this myth has obviously proven to be quiet beneficial to them. They are in a great abundance. I have seen numerous praying mantis out and about this summer and early fall. I enjoy their presence because I have also found them to be one of the more interesting insects. I also like that praying mantis are carnivores and will not wreak havoc on my garden.
After setting down my groceries I snapped a few shots of the praying mantis, who by this time had moved to the driveway. Gorgeous!
****As with all of my pictures, I suggest looking at them in high res. Blogger shrinks the pictures down to fit them on the page. I feel that some of the integrety of the shots is lost in this process. To get the true feeling of the picture please click on it to view in high res.*****
