Found in Dare County, NC on September 09, 2000 during the NABA fourth of July Butterfly Count in Dare County.

This photo is just as I found it after hearing the hummer`s wings a buzzing from about 15 foot away. I called Will Cook and Toni Rexrode to see it. With the help of Will and Toni`s binoculars we figured out it was captured by a mantis from the rump sticking up above it.

We watched for about a minute and they talked me into freeing it. I waded through the 6 foot tall weeds to get to it and took the above photo. Sorry about the back lighting, but I wanted the photo to represent the way we found it.

Once I waded the tall weeds I grabbed the goldenrod and gave it a violent shake with the hope of freeing the hummer! Well you can see the mantis had a very firm grip on it no question. Once the goldenrod settled down I noticed that the female hummer had her entire throat ripped open and she had no chance of recovery.

I was so stunned by this shredded open neck I didn't really want to take a photo or position the hummer for a better photo. Therefore I took this photo which shows the size of the mantis and doesn't show the badly torn neck of the tiny hummingbird.

The car was a bit far away and I didn't have the appropriate lens and a reflector to improve these photos, but that`s the way it goes sometimes.

Special thanks to Jeff Pippen who did all the driving!

See my Praying Mantis photo page
Another of my best mantis photos

Larger image

I used my Canon A2, 100 macro lens handheld.