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BjornBee
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« on: October 27, 2008, 01:50:26 PM » |
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This is a picture I have shown other beekeepers in the past. It is a picture from last year. My wife commented after I had shown her the praying mantis hanging out on the hummingbird feeder "I hope they don't harm hummingbird" I said it was probably after an occasional bee or fly at the sugar water. And they could not possibly harm a hummingbird. This happened the next afternoon. I thought I captured a once in a million chance, but if you google "Praying mantis eats hummingbird" or "praying mantis captures hummingbird", you can see others who have captured a photo of the same thing.  |
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Shawn
Queen Bee
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Location: Lamar Colorado
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« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2008, 02:41:10 PM » |
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Seems like the hummingbird is too big of something to catch. Amazing that the mantis can hold the bird up!
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KONASDAD
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« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2008, 02:49:26 PM » |
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amazing photo
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"The more complex the Mind, the Greater the need for the simplicity of Play".
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poka-bee
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« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2008, 07:00:04 PM » |
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Did it eat the poor thing? You would think that the hummer could wriggle & flap pulling out some feathers in the process to get away...  We don't have the mantis here on this side of the mts...too wet I think. Looks like a big female! J |
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I'm covered in Beeesssss! Eddie Izzard
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BjornBee
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« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2008, 07:49:09 PM » |
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Did it eat the poor thing? You would think that the hummer could wriggle & flap pulling out some feathers in the process to get away... We don't have the mantis here on this side of the mts...too wet I think. Looks like a big female! J Yes. It was a good ways along, perhaps 1/3 of the hummingbird's body gone. I did break it up and was amazed that a full size praying mantis is actually much heavier than the hummingbird. |
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johnnybigfish
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« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2008, 07:54:29 PM » |
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Man, Thats a clear picture!!
I've never imagined a mantis could do that!
We have some here but I dont think they get that big! We have walking sticks so big that a person can make a fishing pole with!!
your friend,
john
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poka-bee
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« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2008, 08:21:08 PM » |
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Oh MY! I never knew they could do that! Maybe the poor hummer dies of shock? They don't have venom. They are an amazing predator. I order em from Planet Natural in the spring & let most go, keep a few in a terrarium for fun. They are like Highlander..there can be only 1. It's creepy when they sight in on you & follow your movements...guess they would try & eat us if we gave em the chance!  |
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I'm covered in Beeesssss! Eddie Izzard
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Irwin
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howdy all
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« Reply #7 on: October 29, 2008, 09:50:24 AM » |
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The one's here in Lakeside are from 3 to 4 inch's I like to watch them eat.
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Fight organized crime! Re-elect no one.
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Scadsobees
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« Reply #8 on: October 29, 2008, 01:30:12 PM » |
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They are creepy things. I'm sure thankful that they are only up to 4 inches!!
I'm amazed at how nonchalant they are when they grab a grasshopper...they pin the grass hopper down so he can't struggle much, then start slowly munching on whatever is closest to their mouth! Tips of their toes, wings, whatever. It would be like a bear pinning me down and starting to eat me at my toes!!! Argghhhh!
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Rick
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thomashton
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« Reply #9 on: October 31, 2008, 06:08:31 PM » |
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It would be like a bear pinning me down and starting to eat me at my toes!!!
You just disturbed me more than you'll ever know. |
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After 18 months of reading and preparation, my girls finally arrived on April 11th (2006)!
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Brian D. Bray
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« Reply #10 on: October 31, 2008, 06:55:04 PM » |
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They are creepy things. I'm sure thankful that they are only up to 4 inches!!
It would be like a bear pinning me down and starting to eat me at my toes!!! Argghhhh!
I'm being swallowed by a boa constricter, a boa constricter. Oh no, he's up to my toes. Oh fangle he swallowed my ankle. Gee, he's now up to my knee. Comments can sometimes trigger wierd memories....like the lyrics from an Old Johnny Cash song. |
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Life is a school. What have you learned?  The greatest danger to our society is apathy, vote in every election! |
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2-Wheeler
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Location: Leyner, Colorado - USA
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« Reply #11 on: October 31, 2008, 09:44:59 PM » |
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Wow, that is too amazing for words. I wouldn't have believed it without seeing your picture. We've had some 3-4" mantis around here this fall but I never thought they could eat a humming bird. I'd rather they go after the field mice! It's scary yes, but for beekeepers this little pest is even worse: <a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbroberg/2729048274/" >  [/url] These little "Assassin bugs" (reduviidae) hide out on the flowers that the bees are using and sneak up on the unsuspecting bee and capture them, sucking the life out of them slowly. Now maybe I can get the praying mantis to eat the assassin bugs! |
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BjornBee
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« Reply #13 on: October 31, 2008, 10:40:19 PM » |
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Neat photo of the spider. I read a story once about some spider (Amazon??) that cast webs and could catch fish. Not sure if it's true. I have those assassin bugs hanging out around the hives all the time. Nasty things. I know there are many varieties of them. This is the most common here.....  |
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BjornBee
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« Reply #15 on: October 31, 2008, 11:04:01 PM » |
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2-Wheeler
House Bee
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Location: Leyner, Colorado - USA
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« Reply #16 on: November 02, 2008, 12:19:23 AM » |
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The spider shot was also amazing. Did anyone dress up as a praying mantis for Halloween? It could be a scary costume. Here is one I caught by my garage a few weeks ago: <a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbroberg/2866280841/" >  [/url] |
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Cindi
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« Reply #17 on: November 02, 2008, 09:56:49 AM » |
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Holy smoking cadoodalhoppers!!!! Those pictures of the predator things are simply AMAZING!!! BjornBee, look that a thread you have started!!! I am amazed at what amazing abilities these predators of unsuspecting critters have. Their ability to get their food, from the unsuspecting suspect. Amazing. It is kind of annoying though, to think that such lovely things can be eaten all up, alive, to say the least. Oh well, there is such a mountain of things that must be eaten to keep the chain of life alive. Have a most wonderful and awesome day, great health. Cindi
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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service
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Cheryl
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top bar beekeeper
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« Reply #18 on: June 29, 2009, 10:57:41 AM » |
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 Bump! Those assassin bugs are crazy. We have them around here that like to feast on HUMAN blood, and they breed in pack-rat middens. We call them " Kissing Bugs" because you hardly feel them. Their saliva is toxic and accumulative. I get a welt the size of a quarter.* Some people are severely allergic. I know a man who barely made it -- he was airlifted from our neighborhood, then spent 8 days in a coma. *It's been a while since I've been bitten by one, since our area has become more suburban, fewer pack rat middens for over a mile radius. We keep our pack-rat populations down around our property for a variety of reasons -- mostly because of the damage they do to property and vehicles (hundreds of dollars damage to vehicle wiring in engine compartments!).
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We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
~ Aristotle
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kathyp
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« Reply #19 on: June 29, 2009, 11:04:14 AM » |
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We don't have the mantis here on this side of the mts...too wet I think. Looks like a big female! don't you? i have some. not common and not so big, but i find them around from time to time. |
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"Nay, it [this constitution of government] must perish, if there be not that vital spirit in the people, which alone can nourish, sustain, and direct all its movements. It is in vain, that statesmen shall form plans of government, in which the beauty and harmony of a republic shall be embodied in visible order, shall be built up on solid substructions, and adorned by every useful ornament, if the inhabitants suffer the silent power of time to dilapidate its walls, or crumble its massy supporters into dust; if the assaults from without are never resisted, and the rottenness and mining from within are never guarded against. Who can preserve the rights and liberties of the people, when they shall be abandoned by themselves? Who shall keep watch in the temple, when the watchmen sleep at their posts? Who shall call upon the people to redeem their possessions, and revive the republic, when their own hands have deliberately and corruptly surrendered them to the oppressor, and have built the prisons, or dug the graves of their own friends?
– Justice Joseph Story, "Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States," Volume II, Chapter XIII: Mode of Passing Laws, Sections 900-901, pp. 364 (1833)
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