praying mantis

as many of you regulars know we are homeschooling our youngest.

part of our science lessons have been on insects....including
the very beneficial mantids......praying mantis.

we were fortunate enough to capture a very large one about a week ago.

today we are releasing him. to go into the garden and do his job.
he eats lots of insects....we know we were feeding him this last week.

he was taking his time to leave...preening himself.

it was a great time to observe him in the sunshine.

abbey was all for letting him go back into his natural setting...

although she had made quite a friend.

we found his every move intriguing.....fascinating......it is

hard to take your gaze away from him.

finally he made it to a holly tree just off the front porch.

so we continued to watch him....

happy fall on these days of the beginning of october.