A friend came to the door

While exiting our house a couple of days ago, a friend appeared.  In fact, it flew right into the door!  A small brown kamakiri, or praying mantis, came for a visit. 

My son immediately ran inside and grabbed his bug viewing box.  He was so excited to watch this critter up close for an extended period of time.

After a bit of research, we decided that our new friend was a kokamakiri, a small (typically 36-63mm or 1.4-2.5in) brown praying mantis.

This little mantis likes to eat grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, and other small bugs.  Since "acquiring" the praying mantis, my son and I have been bug hunting on a daily basis.  Collecting jumping mystery black bugs and even a little blue butterfly today. 

I told him he could keep it for a few days to study it and watch it closely.  Soon it will be time to release it back into nature.  But in the meantime, it's pretty fun to watch.