nickel plate
Veteran Member
This took place on a stretch of fencing just behind the cabin at a friend's ranch near Lake Berryessa, CA. We were just kicking back during a week of Dove and Deeer hunting, sharing a hot afternoon with a few cool ones. The mantis started stalking the perched dragonfly from about three feet between each other. We were all sitting about eight feet away watching the mantis slowly creep up on it's prey for about ten minutes, all of which I thought the dragon fly would spook and fly off. It wasn't until the capture that I went and got my camera so not to interfere with the hunt in progress. The mantis ate the whole dragonfly less the wings that were bitten off and drifted down to the ground for the ants to feed on.