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It's the most wonderful time of the year - baby praying mantis season!

I haven't posted any new photos in a month or so for reasons, not least that it's been fun to look through old pictures and give them another chance at love, or views, or whatever. But yesterday I spotted the first praying mantis babies of the season, and that calls for a change of pace. Shoot, I think it should be a holiday.

The earliest I have ever seen mantis babies here is April 14. So, April 21 is right on time. I found at least five individuals, and they are so tiny and well-camouflaged that it certainly means there are lots more I haven't seen.

Hooray, and happy Baby Mantis Season!

Cochise County, Arizona, April 2024.

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Hello, hyrax family!

These rock hyraxes live on the grounds at the Emakoko Lodge in Nairobi. They look rodent-like, but they are descended from a common ancestor with the elephant, and you can see the resemblance in their toes, and their little tusks (though no tusks are pictured here).

Hyraxes live in groups, eat plants, and retreat to rock crevices or similar places to hide from predators. At the Emakoko, they like to lounge on top of the smaller buildings, soaking up warmth from the solar water heaters. They are roughly rabbit-sized, but sound 100% elephant when they gallop across the roof.

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Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, in Key West.

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Garden flowers.  Cochise County, Arizona, April 2021.

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This is my new favorite animal.

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Tick-o-rama!

When I first spotted these clumps on tall grasses in Olare Motorogi Conservancy, in Kenya, I thought they were some kind of insect eggs. (My vision isn't as sharp as it once was.) But when I touched a piece of grass, the tiny specks started moving... because they were thousands of baby ticks!

There is no Lyme disease in Kenya, but there is an illness called African tick bite fever that is no joke. I didn't see a single mosquito during my trip - it wasn't their season - but these little guys made me glad to have hardcore insect repellent on hand.

So. Many. Ticks.

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Oh, the butterflies (again).

Cochise County, Arizona, September 2021.

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