A random purchase of a praying mantis egg case at our local garden centre led to a fascinating summer sharing my garden with a family of praying mantids.

When these little predators emerged by the dozens from their egg case in early summer, they were about the same length as a pinky fingernail.

 Insanely photogenic, they became the main subject of my photography.   Along the way, I learned more and more about the lives of these formidable hunters.

Did you know that we have no native species of praying mantis in our part of the world?   The ones we see are either European mantids or Chinese mantids.     The European mantids (above photo) have smooth faces and a very distinctive black and white mark in their armpit.   When their arms are outstretched, these marks look like big eyes and can be used as a threat display.

Chinese mantids have a distinctly ridged face.

They also have a bright green edge around their wings.

I am pretty certain that the egg case that I bought was full of Chinese mantids, as the majority of the insects in my garden had these characteristics.     The European mantids must have been locals.  Both species come in green and brown.

These are not invasive species- they were introduced to control pests in the garden.    Word on the street is that they are  not really a beneficial insect- they might be better classified as having a “neutral” effect.   This is because they will eat just about anything that crosses their path- including honey bees, native bees. and other pollinators.

This is a praying mantis skin.

From what I observed, they shed their skins at least 4 times over the summer as they grew.    They would hang very still upside down from a leaf or stem, and turn quite grey looking.    Once the old skin was off they would walk a couple steps away and hang to rest, with a beautiful fresh skin, like in the photo above.

It took until late in the summer for the mantids to start to develop wings.

We had a nice warm fall here, with plenty of time for the mantids to mature and mate.   I did not observe any mating behaviour but I did notice that one day about 8 of the mantids had gathered in one bush.   I read that the females will send out pheromones to call the local males in, so maybe this is what was happening that day.

Females will decapitate males during mating, and even eat them afterwards.   All the mantids will die after the first hard frost, and overwinter inside egg cases.   The female lays her eggs on the stem of a plant like goldenrod, then covers them in a foam that then hardens into an egg case that will protect the eggs through the winter.    It’s my hope that there are some egg cases out in my garden right now under the snow, and that I will have even more praying mantis action in my garden come the warm days of summer.

There is no doubt that looking for the little predators early each morning was part of my summer routine.    They set up territories in certain plants in my garden, so they were pretty easy to keep an eye on as they grew.    We shall see what next summer brings.

Thanks for visiting! Have you ever seen a praying mantis in your garden?

Leslie

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These photos were all taken on my property, or just across the street in the field.

You may have noticed a lot of birds passing through lately.   Believe it or not, birds are already beginning their southward movement.    That takes a lot of energy, which means eating as much as they can right now!

We share our blueberries with the robins.

There are also a lot of baby birds around- birds that have grown up in our area and are now fattening up for their first journey south.     Let me introduce you to some of the visitors to our garden.

Unbelievably cute baby Eastern Bluebird

Although the bluebird boxes on our property did not end up housing any little families of bluebirds, our neighbour’s boxes did, and now the little bluebirds visit our yard for a snack, flitting down from the branches to catch insects, then back up again.

Great Crested Flycatcher

We welcome the families of flycatchers as well, who nested in a hole in a tree near our house.

Blue winged warbler

Local birders know that if they want a guaranteed sighting of a Blue Winged Warbler, they need only visit my neighbourhood in the summer.   Right now, the families are stocking up on food for their journey south.

Cedar Waxwing

Our blueberry patch is definitely a hit.  Especially with the Cedar Waxwings  Luckily once our elderberries fruit, the waxwings much prefer those berries.

Feed me! Baby Catbird

The young catbirds flap their wings and literally “meow” for their food.

Baby Eastern Phoebe (I think)

I’m pretty sure this is one of the baby phoebes who grew up under the awning on our neighbour’s porch.   It likes to sit in the dogwood bushes in my garden and fly down to catch flying insects.

Juvenile Robin

I think the robins under our back deck must have raised 3 families this summer!

Young red Bellied Woodpecker

I’ve learned a lot too.  For example, I had no idea that woodpeckers ate berries until this year- photo evidence!

Everyone loves the blueberries.

I also never knew that chipmunks do this.   It waits on the ground for the birds to drop the berries, even though I know it is perfectly capable of climbing up into the bush.

If you want to go out and take a look to see what you will find in your neighbourhood, most bird and critter activity is early in the morning, say around 7 – 9 am.   Not too too early these days, as the mornings are darker, and chilly.

Stay tuned for my next couple of blogs- “Pollinators” will be next, and then I will have to do something with the hundreds of praying mantis pictures I have taken of my baby mantises growing up in my garden.

Thanks for visiting!

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A few weeks back I was at the garden centre and saw that they were selling praying mantis egg cases!    Praying mantises eat a lot of insects that can harm our flower and vegetable gardens, so the cases of eggs holding these little killers were for sale for the price of $15.00 to help control garden pests (plus they are really cute).   Of course I bought one.

The egg case is made by the female in the fall, and starts out as a foam like substance that she deposits on a plant stem, such as goldenrod.   When this foam dries, it provides a case in which the eggs can over winter. The case had been put in a mesh bag which I tied to a bush about 5  feet off the ground.

The next step was to sit back and wait.  The instructions said it would take one to eight weeks for the nymphs to emerge.  What?   Well, I tried to check every day, but really that is quite the range of time!   Anyway, a couple of days ago I went to check the egg case and it was surrounded by tiny praying mantises!   I saw 2 inside the bag, and the rest were hiding in the leaves of the pagoda dogwood I had tied the case to.

I had about an hour to watch these little critters-they were really well camouflaged, and they could run very fast.  They dispersed quickly.   When disturbed, they would drop to the ground.

Some of the praying mantis nymphs that hatched earlier were a bit bigger, and were waiting very still for the new babies to come out.   This was not a welcoming party.   They ate each other.   No photos turned out of this, but here is one waiting.   This cannibalism is not isolated to the nymphs. Did you know that the female praying mantis sometimes eats the male after, or even during, mating? Yum.

It’s a tough world out there.   I got a close up view of a damselfly making a meal of one of my babies.

Look out, little one!   Praying mantises are unique in the insect world as they can turn their heads 180 degrees.  Try to sneak up on a praying mantis, and you may be startled when it looks over its shoulder at you. No other insect can do this. Praying mantids have a flexible joint between the head and prothorax that enables them to swivel their heads. This ability, along with their rather human faces and long, grasping forelegs, make them endearing in a creepy kind of way.

I don’t really know how many praying mantis nymphs emerged and ran off before I discovered it was their birthday, but I do know there have got to be some lurking out there in my garden.    I hope I come across some of them as the summer and fall unfold.

A master gardener I met last week told me that he and his wife just go out in the fall and collect praying mantis egg cases on goldenrod stems, and bring the stems back to their garden.    Now that I know what the egg cases look like and where to find them, I plan on doing this too.    Who knows, maybe I will have many generations of praying mantises living and reproducing in my garden.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

PS:   Still waiting on the baby Bluebirds and Tree Swallows.

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All proceeds go to the animal rescue group in our area called “Fixed Fur Life.”    This group does wonderful work by saving unwanted and stray pets, spaying or neutering them, then finding them good homes.   Amazingly, they have spayed and neutered over 20,000 cats and dogs in the Quinte region.   This is a cause I am passionate about, and I hope to give Fixed Fur Life a huge donation this year.

Calendars are $15.00 each, or $20.00 if you would like them mailed to you.

For those of you in the local area, I will be holding a Photo Exhibition on Saturday, December 10 from 1:00-5:00 PM at the Studio Above the Grind, 45 Front Street, Trenton. Calendars and prints will be for sale there. Please let me know ahead of time what you would like, as calendars always sell out fast.

Contact me at [email protected] before December 10, and I will set calendars aside for you, or get them mailed out to you.

Here’s a preview of the 2 calendars I am offering for preorder.   Enjoy!

 Calendar 1: The Magic of Water and Ice

For this calendar I tried to look at nature in a different way, exploring the fascinating properties of water and ice.

Cold out? Blow a bubble and watch it freeze!

January

Ice Claws on Lake Ontario

February

Long Tailed Duck at Freeze Up

March

Refraction

April

Prince of Flowers

May

Sun Drops

June

Wild Things

July

Oil and Water

August

Lily Worlds

September

First Frost

October

Frozen Gems

November

Ice Forest

December

Calendar 2:    Ontario Wildlife

A year in the wild, Eastern Ontario.

Snowy Owl

January

Evening Grosbeak

February

American Robin

March

Gray Tree Frog

April

Baltimore Oriole

May

Bee on Coneflower

June

Piping Plover Chick

July

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

August

Giant Swallowtail

September

Philadelphia Vireo

October

Barred Owlet

November

Snowy Owl

December

Thanks for taking a look!   Please email me to order: [email protected]

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Don’t touch it!

When we first moved to Northumberland County, Ontario 19 years ago I knew very little about poison ivy except for  the old saying “leaves of 3, leave them be.”   I learned about it soon enough.   Northumberland County is covered with luxuriant poison ivy!  To say it is widespread is an understatement.   I spent much of my first summer here covered in itchy sore blisters from charging around in the bush with no regard for what lay underfoot.

Beautiful carpet of colour and misery

Nowadays the word “paranoid” has been used to describe my relationship with poison ivy.   I would rather characterize it as healthy respect.    I’ve learned a lot!   And one of the main things I learned about poison ivy is that it is NOT ALL BAD.

Ruffed Grouse, apparently still alive after eating poison ivy berries

We are the only creatures who are allergic to the oil in poison ivy.   Forest critters run through it with wild abandon, and so can our dogs.     Poison ivy is native to North America and is an important food source for many birds and animals. Over 50 species of birds are known to eat the berries of poison ivy.  It is the berry eaten by more species of bird than any other.

Ya, I eat it too.

Because the seeds are not broken down in the digestive system,  birds and animals widely disperse the seeds all over the countryside. It is one of the main understory plants in the woods around my house.

How much would you pay for a pot of this?

I have read that Poison ivy is valued as an ornamental in Europe, and is sold in garden centres and planted in gardens.   It is lovely this time of year, but really come on!

Poison ivy berries- so pretty

Everyone around here has a poison ivy story.   Some of them are quite funny.   In retrospect.  The most terrifying thing I have seen is poison ivy berries being used in a fall floral arrangement at a meeting of our local garden club.    A judge was talking about the arrangement and touching various elements with the end of her pen.   She had this little habit of putting the pen up to her lips when speaking.   I watched this repeat itself a few times and then couldn’t stand it anymore and walked up to her and said “Those are POISON IVY BERRIES!”   Nooo….

Don’t do it

I have another friend who used the berries to make a wreath for her front door.   Her eyes were so swollen the next day she couldn’t go to work.

Perhaps the weirdest story comes from earlier tonight when I was researching which birds and animals ate poison ivy.   I typed “What eats poison ivy? into Google and I got this video as my top hit:   man eating poison ivy to become immune    I’ll leave it up to you whether you choose to follow this guy’s advice.

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Red bee balm is one of the stars of the summer wildlife garden

That’s on purpose.  Gardening for wildlife is so much fun.  Pick some native flowers, shrubs, and trees.  Add in some your favourite flowers that have lots of pollen and nectar, and enjoy the show.

Plant coneflowers and black eyed susans for their seed, and bee balm for its pollen and nectar

Even though we had the worst drought in years this summer, my garden is going strong. Native plants are tough, even if they can’t get watered regularly.  When I first thought of making my garden, I planned it to attract hummingbirds and butterflies.    It does!   But I have discovered a whole lot more about all the different creatures who benefit from having a wild garden like I have created.

Jewelweed and loosestrife  by the creek

We’ve allowed the edges of our property to go wild, and stopped cutting grass down by the creek.    This time of year the wildflowers are covered in pollinators, and the seeds from the weeds are being devoured by birds.

American Goldfinches use thistle seeds for their nests, and they eat them too.

I love watching the American Goldfinches flying all over our property this time of year.

lounging painted turtle

Turtles love the rocks and long grass.   I love their exquisite patterns.

Prince Hummingbird on his zinnia throne

Hummingbirds are the bosses of my wildlife garden.   They love the zinnias I have planted.

Hummingbird zoning in on some bee balm

Zinnias aside, their absolute favourite flower is bee balm (monarda) which blooms steadily for over 2 months.   Once the bee balm comes out, I put away my sugar and water hummingbird feeders.   Unnecessary.

Hummingbird moth

The tiny hummingbird moth looks and acts like a hummingbird- it loves the bee balm too.

Honeybee on anenome

Our honeybees have their favourite flowers too.   This varies throughout the summer, but right now they are all over the anenomes, which are loaded with pollen.

syrphid fly on wild aster

Bee mimics like this syrphid fly are around most of the summer as well.

Monarch on monk’s hood

When I step outside on a sunny day from May until October, there are always butterflies in my garden.   They make the garden come alive as they flit around with their different shapes, sizes and colours.

Gorgeous

Butterflies love the purple coneflowers, the sedum, and the bee balm as well.

Philadelphia vireo in an apple tree

Migration season is on right now, and I have had lots of little visitors around the wild edges of my garden.

Red eyed vireo

They are stopping by for a meal of insects on their way south.   Native plants host far more insects that are eaten by birds than non-native plants.

Black throated green warbler

A whole flock of little warblers was eating insects from my birch tree the other morning.

Nashville warbler hiding in the goldenrod

I’ve started to let goldenrod grow right in my flowerbeds.    I notice some nurseries are even selling it.    The more we can plant species of plants that support the local wildlife in the area, the more wildlife friendly our gardens will be.

Gray tree frog

You never know who might stop by.

For more on wildlife gardening, see my blog:  The Number One Flower for Attracting Just About Everything

To check out a comprehensive planning checklist from Ontario Nature look here.

Happy gardening!

The post The Joys of Gardening for Wildlife appeared first on Leslie Abram Photography.

Baby birds now?  Amazingly, yes.   While many other birds are well on their way south for the winter, American Goldfinches are still dutifully raising their babies.

“Feed me, feed me”

One of the sounds of the fall garden here at my house is the insistent “feed me, feed me” from the baby goldfinches. Listen to the calls here.  Maybe you have heard this sound around your house.

You’re not feeding me fast enough!

Why do Goldfinches wait so long to have their families?  The food and nesting material they like the best are available later in the year.

Seed eater

By late August and September, many flowers have gone to seed.   American Goldfinches are almost exclusively seed eaters, which is actually quite unique. Most birds in our area feed their young a diet full of insects.   The only time a Goldfinch will eat a bug is by mistake.

Thistle down

The soft down of thistles and milkweed is used by Goldfinches for nesting material, and they eat the seeds as well.

Collecting materials for the nest

If you take a look in fields or roadsides, you may see Goldfinches perched on top of thistles, pulling the down out for their nests.

September garden

You can attract American Goldfinches to your garden by planting flowers like purple coneflowers and black eyed susans, then letting them go to seed in the late summer.

mmmm…breakfast!

You have to be willing to let a certain amount of neatness and perfection go, and let your garden mature and go a bit wild in the late summer, but it is totally worth it.

Wildlife Garden

Before you know it, you’ll have goldfinches stopping by.

Bright yellow male

Once the goldfinches find you, they will keep coming back.

Hi

And they might even bring their babies!

Thanks for visiting my blog!   Next time, I will be writing more about the rewards of gardening for wildlife.

For more on American Goldfinches, or any other bird you may be interested in, take a look at Cornell University’s excellent All About Birds website.

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