This is one of my bugs, (Extatosoma tiaratum). She is about 1/3 of the way through her life. She will more than double in size, and then I will be able to feel her weight, barely. In this photo, but for the faint tickle of her claws on my skin, she is completely weightless. I can’t feel her.
I watched this little one for a hours one day and couldn’t tell if she was scruffy old and ready to go, or young and still shedding baby fluff.
The next day, I found her dead on the ground under the feeder. When I picked her up, she seemed to weigh even less than my full grown Bugs. I still could not guess her age.
Is she a kind of walking-stick bug? Great images for this challenge.
I think she qualifies for both Stick and Leaf bug. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extatosoma_tiaratum
(Sorry. Not sure how to add a reference site yet…new Blogger.)
Your bug looks like a collection of tiny, dead leaves. 🙂 No offense to her, of course!!
janet
Then she is successful in her wardrobe choice. She is native to Australia and looks a lot like the Eucalyptus leaves she lives on. Here in the Northwest we feed her Blackberry leaves, a much darker green, but they have not updated their clothing line yet.
Thanks for your comment.
I always like seeing your bugs, and your story about the bird was very moving. Nice job of answering that prompt.
For a lady who knows the spider dance well, it is surprising to see you holding a bug. Especially one that grows to twice the size of the one in the picture. I guess we can have different perspectives on different creatures, even ones that seem similar, one scary the other friendly.
Sad for the little hummer. They are such interesting little birds.
Thanks for sharing.
What beautiful ‘bits’….and thanks for the explanation of the ‘bug’…it looked initially like a twig from your deceased plant, and as you explained so eloquently, that’s part of the bug’s defense in the wild, to blend into the plants, so the bug can continue and the birds don’t get a feast! I was sorry about the little hummingbird, they are indeed so beautiful and magical…but at least it got a good feed before it died. Compassion for the voiceless and tiny is never a bad thing at all. 🙂 Lovely, LOVELY blog!!
Thank you so much. I really appreciate your comments. I do love my bugs. Who knew a few years back I would be so attached to such a strange and amazing species!! And hummingbirds! Miraculous, plain and simple!
The bug is marvelous. As for the birdie, the old and sick ones will sit like that on a feeder, just resting. I would often find them, the next day, dead in the warm protected lee of my front door. I don’t know, it could be they were dying other places too but in the winter so many of them found solace by lingering around the front feeder longer than the other birds and then, when night fell, tucking up against the greenery, plants and furniture on the front porch, protected from biting winds and passing into the next world.