We've had some nifty insects in North Arlington and Lyndhurst this past      week, including:
    1. A praying mantis hanging out on the PSE&G substation fence in North Arlington.
    He greeted several people last weekend as they returned from a walk in Harrier Meadow.
    Click here for more on praying mantises.

 2. We saw this muscular grasshopper on  the Marsh Discovery Trail in Lyndhurst.
   It had hopped out of the phragmites and was sitting on the boardwalk and sunning himself while his friend the ant was elswhere, storing u p  food for the winter.

  3. We saw this crane fly in the NJMC administration building. Someone had said there was a giant mosquito in one of the stairwells.

   As it turns out, these guys are harmless do not bite. (And yes, we took it outside and released it,)

                                  More on crane flies here.