Baby Preying Mantis

Yesterday morning, as i went to put the grill cover on from having used the grill the night before, i saw at the last moment before i pull the cover down that there was a struggling greenish insect on the side top. So i stopped and looked closer at the insect -it was really really small, maybe 1/2 an inch in length- which was struggling to move. I decided this was a good opportunity to photograph a close shot. Racing upstairs i gather the equipment i'd need and returned to find the insect had move about 3-4 inches but hadn't left. Upon viewing the insect thru the lens i saw it was a baby preying mantis. At first i thought it was struggling 'cause it had grease on it from the not-yet-cleaned surface of the grill but watching it a bit longer i saw that it was newly hatched and just learning how to move. It kept wiping it head with the front legs while it dragged itself across the top. In the meantime i'm trying to take photographs that are in focus and knowing that there was no way to get anything other then a very minimum of its body in focus as i didn't have any flash equipment with me so only had natural light to shoot with. At one point i saw that its left eye, the one closes to me, was possible to photograph relatively sharply and so i took a picture. As i watched she clearly was struggling to fly away so i put my finger down and it climbed on and i put the finger in front of the camera with the idea of taking a photograph but when i finally got my finger into focus, she was gone.

For a few minutes i think i was in love.

For a few minutes she left me a bit breathless ... then she left!