And Here’s a Stick Bug Just Hanging Out on the Side of My Garage
Posted on September 29, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 21 Comments
You know. Like you do. I don’t know why this thing surprised me when I saw it; I think I just assumed stick bugs didn’t live in Ohio. Surprise! I was wrong.
Cute! The thing about stick insects, of course, is that they’re hard to spot, except when they hang out on garages :).
Reblogged this on Blog of an e-marketer by Main Uddin.
We found a watermelon in our garden this morning, and I don’t think they grow in Berkshire (England). Some hidden hand had sliced one end off and then placed the 20-pound remnant there for our delight. This may be the vegetable equivalent of finding a horse’s head in the bed.
Well, if they don’t live in Ohio, it probably won’t stick around.
(now hiding from the beatings that pun deserves)
I’ve got a praying mantis slowly dying on my front window. Like you, I was rather surprised to see it when it appeared the other night.
I’m a bit north of you, around Ann Arbor, and I’ve seen them here too. When I moved it from the garage door to the sand cherry nearby, he took two steps and I couldn’t find him anymore, so it’s not too surprising that we just don’t realize that they’re there.
And yesterday a huge beautiful praying mantis showed up on our screen door, also in Ohio.
I’m in Ohio and see those fairly often. I have probably been fooled by ten times as many.
Camouflage Fail!
. . . looks fake . . . like if it’s a couple of sticks glued together and stuck on the wall.
I used to say the same thing about praying mantises in Iowa, but they’ve been ALL OVER this summer. Some of those America-hating hippie scientist types have been alleging that insect species have been on the move as the mid-band states have experienced warmer year-round climates. The national parks out west have apparently had unprecedented bumper crops of hornets and yellowjackets.
Reblogged this on Coffee Shop Rabbi and commented:
Miracles abound!
Reblogging this at http://CoffeeShopRabbi.com. I have always loved these bugs. We used to call them “Devil’s Walking Sticks” in Tennessee but they never seemed very devilish to me.
Only stick bug I’ve ever seen was under the fender of a Honda Dream sitting in a field in Detroit. If I hadn’t been under there with a flashlight looking for rust I’d have missed it.
BTW, Stick Insects are mantids.
You are definitely seeing your fair share of bugs this week!
Extremely cool!
I’ve only ever seen one – about 5 years ago, on the bush outside my front door, here in northeast Ohio.
They are an amazing animal! :-)
As you may or may not (especially if you did not see the film) remember, one of these was an integral part of the film version of “Master and Commander”. One of the better – IMO – adaptations of a novel, even though it actually combined parts of a couple of the books in Patrick O’Brian’s series.
– Tom –
I grew up in PA, and saw a couple of them every summer, so I’m not surprised that Ohio has them.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those in the wild.
We lived in Greenville, next to the park, for a couple of years. It was the buggiest place I ever lived. We saw all kinds of bizarre insects there. Stick bugs and praying mantises were the least of it. I swear some of those damned things looked like they came from THE MIST. I figured all these weird mutant bugs were being chased off local farmland by pesticides, and fleeing into Greenville (and, specifically, the park).
But anyway, yes, Virginia, there are stick bugs in Darke County, Ohio.