What is that??!

My wife is a agricultural engineer. She is also a masterful gardener. That means, not only has she a great knowledge of all things that grow out there, she also possesses a special sense for critters that can possibly harm her crops, flowers, bushes, and trees.
I, on the other hand, chose not to look too closely when something odd appears in the corner of my eye, sitting on a leaf, or on a branch.
We have an American vetch plant on a table outside of one of the living room windows. It has reached a good height already, and my wife really likes this view of a green plant in front of the window. Me, I am mostly oblivious to such things - it's a green plant, pretty, yes honey, I don't have to do anything with it, you will water it, very good.

So, on late afternoon today, I was standing at the window, looking at our backyard, when she passed by and her eye caught something out of the ordinary. "What is this?" - well, it had more than four legs, so I really wasn't that much interested in finding out. There was a window between it and me, and that was all I needed to know about it for now.
"That looks like a Praying Mantis", she said, "but do they live here? I always thought they were living in tropical regions".
Well, Alabama will probably not get mistaken for the North Pole anytime soon - I would describe the climate here as at least sub-tropical in the summer.
But a praying mantis? Here? In our backyard? Could it be?
It could. There are actually three different types of praying mantises native to the Southern USA - out of a total of over 2300 types world wide.
Our specimen probably is a Carolina Mantis, and judging by her size, a freshly hatched nymph.
The picture was made in the day's twilight, with a high ISO setting - and with shaky hands, because I was so nervous not to disturb her and to chase her away, yet to get close enough to get a good picture.
Well, it is recognizable, I guess - it is a Mantis.