Walking Sticks!

A couple weekends ago I was sitting around a fire with a couple of friends. The fall weather had begun and the night was cool. The fire must have been setting the mood because after a short time along came a loving pair of walking sticks.

This was the first time I had found two mating! Here, the female looks more like old bark or a dead twig, while the male looks like a fresh twig with its brown body and green legs.

Now these are some intimidating sexual organs. Look at the grip on this guy.

We became nervous that they were so close to the fire as we had witnessed a depressed cricket commit suicide in it earlier. My friend moved them over to a tree. Within 5 minutes they had crawled back to the fire! For some reason I always thought bugs hated fire. Apparently not stick bugs! They crawled around the fire and found a bush right next to it. When they found that I found another stick bug!

This one had been dangling next to me for who knows how long. I watched it as it couldn't seem to find a comfortable spot to warm up. It kept twirling around on the end of that small limb.

Stick bugs are very common here in the Ozarks as the woods are filled with lots of Oak and Hickory trees. They have no wings and they eat leaves. If you would like to know more here is an article that I just read about walking sticks to give you these facts.
https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/walkingsticks-stick-insects

Here's one more picture have a nice day!