Although various larger birds, snakes, and mammals raid hummingbird nests for eggs and chicks, predation is not a major cause of mortality in adult hummingbirds. Animals known to have caught and eaten hummingbirds include cats, small hawks and owls, shrikes, roadrunners, orioles, tanagers, large flycatchers, grackles, seagulls, largemouth bass, frogs, spiders, and praying mantises.
http://www.rlephoto.com/birds/hummer01.htm
Hummingbird caught by a mantis!
Ruby-throated Hummingbird, (Archilochus colubris) caught by a Praying Mantis!
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.
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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!
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I used my Canon A2, 100 macro lens handheld.
Thanks for the stunning photos. How rare are those!