Two unexpected finds in the desert.

A male praying mantis on a cactus flower.

I am reminded of the jingle, "Two great tastes that taste great together" when I look at this photo that  I took earlier today.  Not that I literally passed my tastebuds over the items seen within, but that here I had two great things that would go together nicely in an image.  I hadn't foreseen either opportunity, little alone them both together.

Things do not flower readily in the desert.  In spite of that, I discovered a cactus in bloom earlier in the day and felt a strong urge to capture an image of it.  I got off a few shots but was underwhelmed by the results, so I headed off to look for other photographable fares.  I came across another cactus, without flowers, but it had something even more interesting.  A praying mantis was nestled securely within the spines.  The thought of combining my new find with the previous one immediately entered my mind and I went about extracting the insect from his ensconcement.

You would be surprised to know that a praying mantis can exert a very powerful grip on something when it wants to, and the sharp protection surrounding it did not make matters any easier.  Once I removed it from the cactus I brought it carefully over to the flower I had just finished shooting.  I carefully placed the insect there and took another series of photos.  Needless to say, the second set was a vast improvement over the first set.

Multiple subjects often work well together, especially if you can show some relationship between them.  In this case, the praying mantis would use the flower to attract other insects.  If you look closely, you will see that there are some ants at the base of the flower.  I thought that was an interesting addition to the photo.  Ants are too small to interest most mantids, so they could actually benefit from their larger cousin by being protected from other smaller predators.

I am thrilled to have captured the moment.  A pretty flower, a cool bug, and a camera - I guess it doesn't take much to make me happy.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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