I'm Back?

As you probably know, it's been a few years since I've posted anything here.

I think it's time I started back up, and let's start things off with an "easy" one...

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...where in this case the "easy" (mantis egg case) was hiding behind what looked to be pretty difficult: the spiky stem of my Madagascar Palm. This fearsome-looking plant spends almost every summer a few feet away from the front porch where it gets a decent amount of sunlight. Some years it even flowers, depending on the timing of when I get it outside (I think).

I only noticed the mantis egg case (called an "ootheca") when I was pulling off some nearly dead leaves today -- since this comes indoors every winter and doesn't get anywhere enough light to keep the leaves photosynthesizing, they start dropping about this time every year. Pulling off the ones that are getting weak reduces the pile that hits the floor, and I'm glad there was a lot of sunshine hitting the front shades as it illuminated this spot nicely so I could see the ootheca.

(Carrying this pot indoors is the "highlight" of the non-hardy plant migration into the house every year for any neighbors who happen to be watching).

I'm fairly certain that if I hadn't found this now, I would have noticed tiny mantis babies all over the living room sometime this winter. In the past I've found egg cases stuck to the underside of my deck, railing, pergolas -- and I've been able to pop those off and overwinter them in the refrigerator. (Why don't I just leave them alone out there? I figure if I can find them, a hungry bird with experience with winter foraging would have no trouble at all. Plus I know that for every one I find, there are probably several others hidden out there.)

A live plant stem is not quite the same as a weathered plank of wood, but I figured I could still pop this one off once I got past the spikes. I used a small steak knife with a sharp tip and carefully pushed it under the case a little bit at a time, all around the edges (where I could get between the spikes).

Gently pushing, pushing, pushing -- then it was gone, loose and lying on the floor nearby. It appeared to be undamaged...

I was a bit worried that I had cut into the stem too much as I had seen a drop or two of sap on the blade, but even that looked pretty good:

So into the refrigerator the egg case went -- I'll take it out in spring for an early June hatching.

(Ooh, as simple as it was, this post took me quite a while to put together as I tried to remember what exactly my workflow was... I hope to post once a week or so...)