Over the last week, I’ve been working in the yard, trying to get things in shape for the approaching winter. As I was headed to the walk-in basement to grab some tools, I found a handsome Walking Stick perched on the door frame. I turned around, went back inside the house and returned with my camera, macro lens and tripod. Here are a couple of images I captured of this interesting insect:
I don’t often see these guys around the house, although I’m sure they’re around … just so well camouflaged that they’re easy to miss! The Walking Stick feeds on foliage of grasses and woody plants. When time to reproduce, the female drops eggs, singly, into the leaf litter on the ground. After overwintering, the nymphs push open domelike ends of the eggs. At night, the nymphs will crawl up woody vegetation to reach edible foliage.
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 body
- Canon EF180mm, f/3.5 macro lens
- Bogen 3221 tripod with Graff Studioball SB-QR ballhead
- ISO 200
- Aperture f/8
- Shutter 1/40 sec. to 1/50 sec.