A Katydid in the Kitchen

I was doing the dishes in the dirty kitchen* this evening when I heard something fall from the ceiling. I didn’t see anything on the floor so I paid it no mind. I went about my way and placed all the newly washed dishes on the dish rack inside the house. Afterwards, I went back outside to dry the large mixing bowl I used to carry the dishes.

I was about to place it on top of a stack of bowls and frying pans, when I froze in my tracks. On top of the frying pan lay a freakishly large, very ugly and scary-looking insect!! It looked like it was about to take flight any second, and I absolutely abhor flying insects so I slowly backed off and from a safe distance, ran back inside the house.

The thing looked like this. (You can click on the image for a close-up.)

I called my boyfriend and asked him to take pictures of the insect, because I wanted to blog about it. (I was too scared to go back out into the dirty kitchen so all these pictures are taken by him.)

He told me it was a katydid. I had no idea what a katydid was so I looked it up on the Internet. It turns out that katydids live in trees, and they’re camouflaged as leaves. Our katydid certainly resembled a leaf, but from what tree or shrub, I’m not sure. We have a lot of trees and herbs in the backyard right outside the dirty kitchen, like nangka (jackfruit) and star apple (also known as caimito). We also have oregano, maybe that’s where it lived. Do you think it looks like an oregano leaf?

It’s certainly good at camouflaging, that’s for sure. Look at its legs. They even look like thorns! So maybe it really came from one of the thorny shrubs, though how it got up the ceiling is a mystery. (Well, ok, our backyard garden is running so wild some vines are already creeping into the kitchen.)

Here’s a closer look at it’s head. An hour later, Gim went out to check if it had flown away, but it’s still there, still as ever. He says it thinks it’s in a tree. I say it’s maybe disoriented and doesn’t know where to go. But neither of us is brave enough to pick it up and place it outside, hehe.

Here is more detailed information on the katydid.

*Dirty Kitchen is a term used in the Philippines to mean a separate building or room outside of the main house where all the food is cooked and prepared. This kitchen is often literally dirty. The main house may or may not have another kitchen, but regardless whether it’s dirty or squeaky clean, it’s not called a dirty kitchen, just a kitchen. πŸ™‚

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9 Comments

  1. That is a beautiful set of photos that you have posted.I love insects and so does my wife. Thanks for sharing them.

  2. Hi added you in technorati fav.Great blog.Hope to see you in my technorati authority.Technorati user name manas28.

  3. My comment got lost?! haha.

    As I was saying…
    You captured it beautifully, It looks more like a plant than an insect! πŸ™‚

  4. Those are some really good photos. I like the closeups on the wings and legs. I would get scared and back away too. haha

  5. I’m scared of most bugs, I would have been screaming my head off. LOL. Great to look at in a picture, up close and personal? Heart attack.

  6. Haha we don’t call those katydids in the Philippines, right? As long as it looks like a grasshopper, then it is a grasshopper.

  7. @capybara – you’re welcome!

    @free money maker – thanks!

    @gim – thanks for posting… finally, after weeks of my prodding. haha.

    @vera – thanks! i’ll tell Gim you liked his pics πŸ™‚

    @sandi – we just used the zoom of the cam and then i cropped it. we didn’t go that close to the insect haha.

    @natural – almost πŸ™‚

    @bryanski – that’s what i thought at first, that it was a giant grasshopper! haha.

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