Woodpecker eating mantis eggs
This photo is less than
stellar, but the behavior is too interesting not to share.
Mark called me over to
the window a few days ago to tell me that a bird was eating my praying
mantis egg cases.
Sure enough, this little Downy Woodpecker was pecking away at the
spongy blobs coating my peach tree twigs.
Generally, I like
praying mantises (even though the ones I have are invasive
species). But my rule of thumb is that even if an animal is
eating a beneficial insect, that's a good sign because it means I've
created a quality ecosystem that can support top level predators.
I wonder how many of my
other egg cases have been mined out? And I also wonder if the
mantis eggs have hatched into tiny mantises, spurring this attack.
I guess only the woodpeckers know for sure.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I wonder the spiritual significance? Over winter break I turned to the oothica/ praying mantis egg case as a kind of self metaphor.
Now, looking at the picture, I am glad with you the woodpecker his snack.
Maggie --- I'll leave any spiritual significance up to you.
J --- I posted about Ruth Stout a couple of years ago. I haven't actually read her book, though! It's on my list....