Trego's Mountain Ear

I have never before found a Praying Mantis in Trego. I suspect someone ordered the Mantis for pest control this summer and it wound up behind the old service station. I needed to move some wood to a burn pile – and had to cut the log up with my chainsaw in order to move it. When I saw the Mantis, I set the idling saw down, captured the insect, found a can to keep it in, then remembered to pick the saw back up before I took the beast home to show to Renata.

This map, published just a month ago by https://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=IIMAN01010 shows how lucky I feel to have spotted (and captured) one here in Trego. The field guide identifies my insect as a European Mantid.

Not much else to say – just that I feel lucky to find one.