My New Friend

This story is for Robert and Seth, with whom I had an extended conversation recently about "walking sticks" and "walking leaves," special insects which look like their environment. But I bet that my other grandchildren, and my grand-nephews and nieces might like it, too!

I was happily sewing along, in my special happy yellow sewing room (in fact, I was making PJ's for Peyton!), when suddenly I knew I was not alone. Up near the ceiling, above the window, I saw a large green insect! It looked sort of like a grasshopper, but bigger. When I looked more closely, I saw that its body was shaped like a leaf! I wonder how it got there? I have screens on my windows. If it came in a door, it would have had to climb all the way upstairs! Maybe it crawled in around an air conditioner in Joey's or Steven's room. I will never know. It is a mystery.

The real name of this insect is "katydid," because it likes to sing a song that sounds like "Katy did, Katy didn't" over and over and over in the late summer. It is related to crickets, grasshoppers, and cicadas.

(Here is a picture of it. The white part is the ceiling and the yellow part is the wall.)




At first I thought I would just leave it there to keep me company, because I have always thought that walking leaves were rather pretty and nice. But then I got thinking it might be scared, lonely, thirsty, or hungry, and that I should take it outside. So I got a glass from the kitchen, and a little white 3x5 card. I stood on a stool, and put the glass quickly over the insect. It jumped! But it was caught in the glass. I slid a card under it and carefully carried it downstairs. I looked at it up close for a few minutes. I observed. It was about two and a half inches long. It had little pincers on its face. (Those are called "mandibles" and they are for chewing.) It had long antennae. It had big strong hind legs. I bet it is a good jumper!



I took the glass outside, and thought, "Where would a katydid like to live?" I took it into my backyard and put it on a tall tomato plant. (I was thinking that it would eat other insects, but actually, I just read that it eats leaves! I was wrong! Oh well, there are lots of leaves on my tomato plant.) It hopped from leaf to leaf, and then it fluttered up high, like a butterfly! I was surprised. I had never seen one fly before. It looked bright green in the sky, but I didn't get a picture of it. It was too fast! But I did get some pictures before it flew away.



Look how well the katydid can hide on a plant! It looks like a real leaf. It even has the same kind of lines on it. Can you see it in the picture below?



I wonder if it will come back to live in my garden!