Nature-find

Ashleigh recently discovered baby Praying Mantis' on our front walk. How she spotted them...so tiny and camoflauged! She didnt remember seeing a grown one before, so didnt know what they were. But she looked them up in a cool little insect guide that I had just found her at a garage sale. She was amazed at how large they can grow to be!!

I shared with her my experience with baby mantis'. I was around 10 yrs old. And just like Ashleigh, loved nature & science, and was very observant. My parents were always amazed at how we could all be walking somewhere and I would look down and spot a fossel or something.

We had found a praying mantis egg sac on a stick...and thinking it was an old, dried-out one, we placed it in our bug catcher to study and add to our collection. I don't remember how long we had that thing, but one day we discovered hundreds of baby mantis' all over our sunporch. Their tiny bodies we able to fit thru the holes of the bug catcher. It was a crazy experience, one that I never forgot. And I'm sure Ashleigh won't either :)