Earth Almanac: November/December 2007

Gifts to Pray For

The presents under your tree never go unnoticed. Not so with the smaller, unwrapped ones that may be on it. Of these, none are more beautiful than the styrofoamlike “oothecae”—carefully fashioned with fast-drying foam, shaped like walnuts or golf balls, and no bigger than either. These are the egg cases of any of about 20 species of praying mantis that inhabit most of North America. Mantises can’t survive cold weather, but in the warm environs of your house hatchlings are apt to emerge from an ootheca before you notice it and can place it outside. Despair not, for they damage nothing. They even make interesting pets; you can scoop them up and keep them in straw-filled jars until mid-spring, when they’ll be able to survive in your yard. Feed them small insects such as fruit flies, which almost always appear indoors if you let fruit ferment in an open bowl. Praying mantises are useful in pointing the way to lost children, should you misplace any—or so it is reported in French folklore. While these insects are voracious predators (large species will take small birds, lizards, and frogs), the common knowledge that they “control” insect pests is incorrect. They kill pest predators, too, but even if they consumed only pests, there aren’t enough mantises to make a dent.

Bottoms-Up Bird

The brown creeper—the New World’s only tree creeper—ranges throughout North America and as far south as Nicaragua. But now, when winter grips the northern border of their domain, these drab little birds with the down-curved bills ease southward in the most casual of migrations. Often they go unnoticed because they fly only short distances, are well camouflaged, and throw in with mixed flocks of nuthatches, chickadees, and woodpeckers. When threatened a brown creeper will freeze, remaining motionless for several minutes, often with long wings spread. Starting at the bottom, look for them as they spiral up from the base of trees, probing for insect eggs and pupae, stiff tails pressed against bark. If you see a bird descending a tree, it’s not a brown creeper.

Late Locks