Jimmy became startled by a giant bug on his porch this afternoon. I walked over to investigate. As I fearlessly approached, (remember, I've been through 3 black rat snakes inside my house and a few bats, so a bug outside is cake in comparison...) yet, he warned me it was the biggest bug he had never seen. Very cool. I recognized it immediately, it was a walking stick, also called a Phasmatodea - “phasma” means “ghost” because it easily camaflouges on trees due to its peculiar stick-like shape. It's been years since I have seen one up close. I was fasinated by it's heart shaped head, and if you looked carefully, you could see it's eyes, the size of two black grape seeds. I learned from the internet that "they see clearly and in color". He (She) got a good look at me today, for I looked into those eyes for about 5 minutes!
Jimmy seemed impressed that I knew what it was, but now having looked it up, I gave him misinformation. I thought this bug was endangered, but apparently not, though they are more common in the tropics. I even prompted him to get his camera, and we took several pictures - I joked that maybe they would be worth something...Then, as we questioned whether it flies or crawls, we found out as it took off and landed on my porch, where I took more photos. The way it flies resembles a dragon fly.
While I finished up the gardening which may have been what stirred up it's habitat, I kept watch on him...thinking perhaps that it had been spying on us all summer long as if a ghost hidden in the garden....
If you like bugs, I wrote about another bug discovery this summer. Click onto "Today's Beetle Discovery" from archive:
http://michellerosenbaum.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html#5101394324130498078
If you like snakes, I wrote about a snake discovery this summer. Click onto: "Snake Encounter" at http://michellerosenbaum.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html#836694817079095875
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