Chinese Mantis

The Chinese mantis, Tenedera sinensis. Click to enlarge. 

The Chinese mantis is remarkably easy to overlook for an insect that is five inches long. This one was blending in among leaves and flowers along a fence on Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The mantis is a predator that sits quietly waiting until its (mainly) insect prey is within striking distance; prey can be almost any kind of fly, bee, spider, moth, or similar thing. It quickly grabs the victim with its spiked forelegs, impaling and holding it, and then eats with a mouth that cuts and tears.

The Chinese mantis is native to Asia. It was accidentally introduced to the United States in the late 1800s and spread. Gardeners now deliberately release them for biological control of plant pests and Chinese mantises are kept as pets. They consequently can be found in the wild throughout the the country.

This is one of a few kind of mantises that you might encounter. I wrote previously about a Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) that I also saw in Brooklyn Bridge Park -- in the same spot! You can see that blog and compare the two mantises by clicking on this sentence.

It seems that Brooklyn Bridge Park is a good place to find mantises. I'll bet it is because of the variety of tasty prey that results from the thoughtfully chosen plantings. Look for mantises near blooming flowers by the Pier 1 section of fence that borders the wide gravel road on the eastern side of the park.

The surface of the mantis' wing case looks deceptively like a dry leaf. 

If you don't know it's there it is easy to overlook. 

But when you get up close, you'll find it is watching you. 

Last Day of Summer

Summer ends tomorrow, September 22nd, at 10:29 p.m. in New York City. Goodbye butterflies! (And moths.)

Click to enlarge. 

Tis the last rose of summer, 

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone.

- Sir Thomas Moore

The Last Rose of Summer, 1830

Spun Glass Caterpillar

The spun glass caterpillar, Isochaetes beutenmuelleri. Click to enlarge.

I was in Kentucky last week, relaxing with horses, caves, and bourbon. While walking in the woods at Mammoth Cave National Park, I saw this lovely larva, commonly called the spun glass caterpillar. It is about 3/8 of an inch long and almost as wide, pale green, practically transparent, and covered with spines and hairs. It looks like a miniature Christmas ornament. Its main food is the foliage of the swamp oak tree. Theoretically, they can be found from New York to Florida and west to Texas and Colorado, but they are uncommon and I had never seen one before. It grows up to become a relatively drab moth, which you can see by clicking on this sentence.

Egyptian Geese

The Egyptian goose, Alopochen aegyptiaca. 

Egyptian geese are abundant in Kensington Gardens in London where I took these pictures. The bird's native range is in the Nile Valley in Egypt and throughout subsaharan Africa. Introduced and escaped birds have established feral populations throughout southern Europe. I sometimes see Egyptian geese in urban parks in the northeastern United States. Feral populations of Egyptian geese are proliferating in Texas around Houston where they were  the subject of a recent scientific study; the results indicated that Egyptian geese seem to coexist peacefully with native waterfowl and may even deter colonization by less well-behaved Canada geese.

Egyptian goslings. Click to enlarge.

Egyptian geese are robust long-necked birds, with pink legs and feet, brownish backs, tan bodies, and black tails. They have conspicuous chocolate-brown eye patches and pink bills with a black nail at the tip. A white wing patch is visible in flight. It is hard to catch a photo of it, but each bird has a chocolate-brown patch low on its breast.

The Egyptian goose is the only species in its genus in the family Anatidae, which contains all geese, ducks, and swans. Technically, and despite their English name, Egyptian geese are not geese. Neither are they ducks. They have characteristics of both and their closest relatives are the goose-like Old World shelducks.

Geese are popular subjects for Haiku. Here are a few written in the early 1800s by the master, Issa.

           honking geese--


            I picture skies


            over inns

            geese and ducks


            wipe their feet...


            on the irises

            geese at my gate--


            another seductive rain


            falls today

            making themselves at home


            asleep, awake...


            geese at my gate