Holden's walking stick

Late yesterday afternoon the neighbor kids found a small walking stick on their front walkway by their house. Well, they didn't know what it was for sure. They called for Holden. I was in the front watching the kids while Cliff was working on the porch light and we helped confirm the insect's identity. They were confused because it had small wings and flew a short distance. That was new to me as well. I had never seen one fly.

Holden still has the walking stick this morning and I was able to get a few pics of it. We will be releasing it this morning. Walking sticks are a lot of fun to look at and always such a surprise to find. We usually find some while visiting family in Texas and they are usually quite large. I'm not sure we had found one in Iowa before. But Holden says we have seen one here before.

As you can see from the pics Holden needs to take a bath or wash his hands. We have been playing hard around here!! And we'll be on the look out for more interesting insects.