A Tiny Terrace Visitor

     One of my MANY favorite insects of summer are the mantises. I don't usually see them too often in Brooklyn, with the exception for the hedges down the block from me last year that housed just as many mantises as the apartment building they surrounded housed humans. It was a pleasant surprise to step out onto our (sorry excuse for a) terrace and see a tiny little mantis just hanging out. In the middle of putting together my lunch, I dropped everything, grabbed the camera, and had some fun playing with the macro lens because he was just so tiny (and cute)!

With the 35mm lens-- compare his teenie tiny-ness to the metal brackets that (used to) hold planters.

I love their first pair of legs, adapted to help grip prey.

This little guy probably hatched from eggs laid last fall, that survived the winter in an ootheca - an egg case. Imagine just how little he was upon first emerging!

Their heads are able to swivel in all directions, giving these little insects such character. Every little move I made his tiny head quickly rotated to see what was going on, even if the camera flash accidentally popped up, his head turned just as quickly!

"Do you want me to make the 'pouty face'?"

Be safe out there, lil' guy-- and please get big to eat all the roaches that loom out there, waiting to make me screech and "dance."