Objects On Mirror

A sunny SoCal day, top down, heading home from the store, I glance over at the passenger side mirror before changing lanes and I see we have a passenger.

We really don’t see a lot of mantises around here – I think they’re unusual enough so I’ve shared pictures of them before.

It also occurs to me that it could be a selection effect – for all I know the trees are practically dripping with them and they’re really, REALLY good at staying hidden – I just spot the occasional loser and Darwin award finalist.

This critter had some interesting banding back by the back legs.

It was interesting how it moved around, almost like a spider crawling around a web.

About this time it decided that the car was hot (it was), my iPhone was not, so it hopped onto the phone. I was holding the phone at the time to take the picture and had an extremely non-macho reaction. The mantis correctly interpreted my violent shaking of the phone to mean that I wanted it off, so it complied by hopping off onto my hand and starting up my arm.

I neither screamed like a little girl nor did I squish it – I get a cookie!

(For the record, I brushed it off onto the other car that was sitting there in the shade and much cooler. I also warned it about the Freds, who no doubt would invite it to lunch as the entree.)