These were taken in 2004, seconds before the mantis became enraged and flew at my throat, nearly taking my head off. I never saw so much blood...
No, that's a horrible lie. They were taken in 2005.
No, I'm still lying. It really was 2004. And the mantis was quite serene. It's quite fascinating watching its head and "pupils" track around. I've picked up smaller mantises in the past, to study them up close. However, this fine fellow measured about 6-8 inches long, and I'm too gutless to mess with something that large.
We see them every year around here. Once, one of them was sitting on the front door, and it involved some creative and extremely slow movement to get the door open and back inside, so I could retrieve a broom and let the thing crawl onto the bristles. I then deposit them out back in the field, over the fence. Aside from that one time when the mantis wrenched the broom from my grasp and knocked me unconscious...
Usually they are on the back porch. They are typicall bright green all over when I've seen them, but sometimes brown. I suppose that has something to do with molting or whatnot.
