A small, green visitor in my yard that is just as small and green. He is not an alien even though there have been such representations in some SF movies.
This visitor knows how to hide, he knows how to wear the right clothes to be protected from prying eyes, both from the curious people and from the hungry birds.
In order not to keep this secret too much, I will tell you that it is an insect that looks like a locust. I live in a big city and crowded with people and cars, it is true that I live on the outskirts of the city but I have never seen such an insect in the park or in the yard or on the street. I saw him a few times, as a child, in the country, many years ago.
Its green color helps it to hide among the leaves, but I was not at all scared that I approached, after noticing it by chance. This is an insect that I like the way it looks, otherwise, I'm not a fan of insects. I used the phone to take some pictures. To my amazement, he did not try to hide or fly. It moved quite slowly on the leaves on which it rested. I think he was tired if he didn't try to run away from me. It moves very slowly, reminding me of the chameleon's movement. This allowed me to take more photos ...
Obviously, I didn't know what kind of insect it was, I suspected it was from the same family as locusts. Google (Lens) helped me find out what it's called and Wikipedia gave a short presentation.
Phaneroptera falcata, the sickle-bearing bush-cricket, is a species of bush-cricket belonging to the family Tettigoniidae subfamily Phaneropterinae. It is herbivorous and commonly measures 24 to 36 mm long. It lives mainly in very warm scrub and grasslands areas, also on dry shrubbery, and in sandpits and gardens.
Well, it's called Phaneroptera falcata, it looks more like a dinosaur name. Interestingly, I read that these insects appeared on earth before dinosaurs. Frightening!
I'm thinking of taking a closer look ...
I think you've noticed how much it looks like the leaves on it. Perfect camouflage.
What I know about these insects, relatives of crickets and cicadas, is that they make certain sounds, like a song, to attract mating partners.
In summer, this song of thousands of insects is so powerful that it almost misses your ears. For me it's the sound of summer, I listened to it as a background sound since childhood when I spent all day in the field with my friends. Then I wasn't attentive or attracted to that sound, but you couldn't ignore it. It sounded like a ringing of the ears.
Then, much later, I began to associate this sound with summer, I heard the sound on the way to the sea. An intense and compact sound, made by some unseen beings. Knowing that locusts and crickets make this sound by rubbing their wings, I thought it was their sound. If you want to know more about this topic, you can read here: How Do Crickets, Cicadas, and Grasshoppers Make Music?
Now, when I researched for this post I found out that cicadas, other extremely strange insects are to blame for this music. You can listen to it here, in this short video to find out if and where you live there are such insects.
My new green friend also sings, but much less spectacularly, if the conductor listened to him, he would kick him out of the choir. It doesn't matter to me, I like the way it looks.
In general, I don't photograph insects, with a few exceptions, such as butterflies, ladybugs, dragonflies, which I consider very photogenic. Now came this Phaneroptera falcata, maybe it has a simpler name but I don't know it, which wanted to be photographed by me. I gave him this pleasure.
