Garden Killer

"There's a praying mantis eating a bee on the Sneezeweed", Patty called out as we were both out doing yard work (sorta) this past Saturday.

And so there was. A Chinese Mantid, a non-native species introduced as a biological insect control agent.

You'll often see them sitting still on plants, waiting for prey to wander close. Then it's curtains for the hapless victim.

An indiscriminate killing machine, it preys on good and bad insects alike. And in that respect it's a failure as a pest control agent. Yet one can still purchase them for this task. And they are probably too entrenched to remove them from the environment.

I know not what it was eating. But it didn't seem to like me watching.

Or perhaps it sizing me up? I wonder how yummy I looked.