Not Just In Your Garden...

But on your (seriously dirty) windows, too!

Mantis religiosa.

What Lurks In Your Garden?

Found this little creature crawling around one of my potted plants out back. Have no idea what it is (if you do, please share!), but it is cool, isn't it? It'd be terrifying if it were bigger, but it's barely a centimeter long. A 60mm micro lens got me close.

It's a rich and amazing world down there.

Creepy-crawlies are everywhere! Researchers in PA once counted in an oak forest about 9,000 arthropods in one square foot. We step on thousands of insects a day without even knowing it. Happy this fellow wasn't one of them.

"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos." E.O. Wilson