A Bad Day For Mr. Mantis

Posted on October 9, 2016 by JK

Sunday, October 9, 2016,

This is not why I’m single but it certainly is food for thought. And for female Praying Mantises. I got these shots during yesterday’s Four Harbors Audubon Society birding walk at Avalon Preserve. Please take note of Mr. Mantis’s missing head and of the severed leg that Mrs. Mantis is grasping in her right front leg. Is that a forelimb or foreplay? Mr. Mantis was enjoying a terrific morning and then the check came. Next time bring cash. By the way, the participants are still conjoined. He may have lost his head but Mr. Mantis remembered why he came to the party.

Buck at Caleb Smith

Posted on September 16, 2016 by JK

Friday, September 16, 2016,

Black Swallowtail

Posted on September 14, 2016 by JK

Wednesday, September 14, 2016,

Here’s a shot I took at Sweetbriar Nature Center at the end of July. Sweetbriar, located in Smithtown, has its own Butterfly House but this Black Swallowtail is not a tenant there. Instead, this is a free-range butterfly, one Long Island’s indigenous treasures. I found it atop this Milkweed flower while I was walking through one of the open fields at Sweetbriar. The Butterfly House has many very cool specimens but to find this beauty all you may need to do is look in your back yard. JK