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A hodgepodge collection of subjects from the commonplace to the unusual...
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A typical hot day in August, and the plants in my little garden were in serious need of watering. After watering most all of my plants and flowers I had circled round to the other side of the garden that straddles both mine and Cliff and Jessica's property next to me. <br /> <br /> Because my v shaped garden gets too wide at this point for me to reach the plants from my side, I walked over to their side and finish watering the plants from there. As I was watering my last black eyed susan, I looked down and spotted this praying mantis munching away on what I thought was a fly. I dropped my watering can by my front steps and tore into the house to get my camera.
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A typical hot day in August, and the plants in my little garden were in serious need of watering. After watering most all of my plants and flowers I had circled round to the other side of the garden that straddles both mine and Cliff and Jessica's property next to me.

Because my v shaped garden gets too wide at this point for me to reach the plants from my side, I walked over to their side and finish watering the plants from there. As I was watering my last black eyed susan, I looked down and spotted this praying mantis munching away on what I thought was a fly. I dropped my watering can by my front steps and tore into the house to get my camera.

my front yardpraying mantisNYCStaten Islandsummernatureinsects

  • Wow what a ruckus these two made fighting over the last of the scraps from the fish one of the parents just regurgitated for them. Their squawking was so loud I'm sure you could hear them a half a mile away on the other end of the lake, though no one but me would have had any clue as to what was actually making all that noise.
  • DSC_0527 Great white egret
  • Today I came back looking to see if the young chicks had learned how to fly. It didn't take more than 5 minuets to discover they had. While quite large for most birds, the young herons still have a thinner smaller build and brown flecks in their body feathers. And they don't have the broad white stripe on top of their heads yet. So they were easy for me to identify from their parents.
  • This one spent all the time I observed it, grabbing sticks and leaves as if they were fish, no doubt testing it's hunting skills on simple floating objects to get it's aim and reflexes up to snuff for when it had to feed itself for real, as mom and dad still were bring the 3 remaining chicks food.
  • DSC_0812 feeding time
  • DSC_0831 feeding time
  • DSC_1179 water slide
  • DSC_1110 water slide
  • DSC_1222 water slide
  • DSC_1224 water slide
  • DSC_1230 water slide
  • DSC_1233 water slide
  • DSC_1235 water slide
  • DSC_1244 water slide
  • DSC_1566 water slide
  • A typical hot day in August, and the plants in my little garden were in serious need of watering. After watering most all of my plants and flowers I had circled round to the other side of the garden that straddles both mine and Cliff and Jessica's property next to me. <br /> <br /> Because my v shaped garden gets too wide at this point for me to reach the plants from my side, I walked over to their side and finish watering the plants from there. As I was watering my last black eyed susan, I looked down and spotted this praying mantis munching away on what I thought was a fly. I dropped my watering can by my front steps and tore into the house to get my camera.
  • Turned out it was a yellow jacket, not a fly that this mantis caught. Good for me on a few levels. That's one less yellow jacket to bother me when I tend to my garden, and being a lot bigger than a fly, it would take him a lot longer to eat it. Giving me a lot more time to capture him on film.
  • DSC_3010 Praying Mantis
  • DSC_3022 Praying Mantis
  • DSC_3037 Praying Mantis
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