Evening visitor

Northern walking stick

Another sign of fall appeared on the outside wall of my cabin last evening, a northern walking stick. Mid-September is when they mate, so it’s not surprising to find them out and about now. They have the best camoflauge of just about anything. I had to enhance the photo a bit just so it wouldn't blend into the background. This one was perhaps 2 inches long.

I haven’t been able to decide if this one is a male or a female. The males tend to be dark brown and the females a kind of brownish green. I’m leaning towards this one being a female, but it’s neither as brown nor as green as some I’ve seen, so I might be wrong. The females are a bit larger, too, and as walking sticks go, this one was in the mid-range, so that didn’t help either.

The oak forest that surrounds my cabin is perfect habitat for them. Oaks are their preferred food source. Walking sticks are mostly nocturnal, which is how I came to find this one when I took the dogs for a final outing of the day. As a side-note, I am still getting used to the lessened hours of daylight. During mid-summer darkness meant it was time to begin to get ready for bed. Without thinking, I automatically did that earlier this week and then discovered it was still only 8:30 p.m.

September 4, 2005

I was typing at my computer this morning, felt a slight tickle on my arm and brushed it away without a thought. A moment or so later, I felt the same thing. This time I paid attention and discovered a walking stick on my arm. It was a small one, thus probably a male. I don't know how it got into the cabin, though my computer is near a window. I'll guess that it probably found a small space at the edge of one of the window screens and decided to explore the great indoors.

Anyway, I moved to take it outside and discovered how fast these little buggers move. It was all over the place, even in my hair for a moment. Now I like walking sticks. I think they’re neat-looking, but having one in my hair is a bit much. I don't care if they are vegetarians, I don't like bugs of any kind in my hair. So it was a struggle to get the thing out of my hair without hurting it. I finally managed to get it back onto my hand and took it outside, placing it on the fig tree that summers on the front porch.

Well, you wouldn’t find a walking stick in your house in suburbia too often. Although I can't honestly say that having one in the cabin and in my hair ranks up there as one of the great pleasures of living in the woods. But still....