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HUMMINGBIRDS vs. MANTIS
A PHOTO ESSAY ON A VIOLENT CONFLICT
On August 13, during our dinner hour, my husband and
I were casually watching the beehive of early evening activity by a group
of Hummingbirds just outside the dining area window. This frantic jockeying for
position to feed by a group of 10 or more individuals had been ongoing for
several days. We suddenly spotted a Mantis perched on the outside edge of
a vertical
picket post of the deck railing, just below the Hummingbird feeder hanger
bracket. Though we knew we had several Mantis individuals throughout our
surrounding flower beds, having seen them at various times of the day in past
weeks, this was the first time we had observed one up near the Hummingbird feeder.
Fascinated by the unfolding drama, I grabbed my Minolta Maxxum 7000, slapped
on my 100-200 telephoto lens, and headed outside in hopes of capturing some of
the events. I sat down on the low wall of the raised flower bed off to one
side, and just a short
distance from the deck. I shot a number of frames that session and here
are the some of resulting photos...
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In the initial phase of my observation
and filming, there was just the usual flying in to feed by the Hummers going on
(left). Then one of the Hummers seemed to discover the Mantis and came in for
a look/see (center). After that the birds seem to get back to their bickering
and posturing for dominance and possession of the feeder (right) paying little
attention to the Mantis.
As time passed, and the Hummers continued to feed, they
went from just observing, to outright attacking the Mantis
"Intruder". One of the Hummers finally hit it hard enough to
knock the Mantis from its perch. The "knockout punch" was
delivered so fast that I was unable to capture the actual hit....
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At this point I relocated my vantage point about 120 degrees left to afford a side view of the happenings. I quickly located the Mantis in the Hosta plants that surround our deck area. Fortunately for the Mantis its fall was cushioned by the dense foliage of the Hostas (left). The Mantis quickly recovered its composure and promptly set out to climb back up to the former perch area (center). [While at a book store a couple of days later, we looked in an Insect Book and found that our mantis was actually a Chinese Mantid.] In a less than a minute after its fall, the Mantis was nearing the original location from which it had fallen (right).
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In a matter of seconds, various
individual Hummers set to attacking the Mantis for every direction (all 3 views)
not liking it's close proximity to their dinner table. Most of those brave
enough to take on the Mantis appeared to be adult Hummers. Tenaciously the
Mantis held it's ground thru quite a number of bombardments, but eventually was
knocked off once again. I did not capture this fall either, only glimpsed
it once again as it occurred between my picture shots.
After climbing back up once again, the Mantis soon elected
to retreat back behind the post and into a safe spot for the night (perhaps in
the large pot of petunias) as the sun
was about to set. This concluded my film session for the evening.
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About mid morning of the following day,
we were sitting at the dining table once again, having a late breakfast while watching our Hummers. We quickly spied the Mantis back observing the
Hummers during this time of mid morning feeding frenzy. I got my camera, but this time,
rather than going outside to film, opened
the window next to our dining table and took the next half dozen photos through
the open window.
Three of Hummers can be observed moving on and around
the feeder in the left photo. They were taking turns alternating between feeding
and reacting to one another's comings and goings (center). While a couple
of Hummers continued posturing for domination of the feeder (right), the Mantis
kept changing its position in what seemed like an attempt to get a better
view. (We were later to find that the Mantis had a more sinister plan in
mind as he was actually stalking the Hummers.) As can be seen in all three of these photos, the Mantis had
positioned itself between two of the upright railing pickets in an obvious
attempt to avoid being knocked down yet again. It apparently had learned
from past experience NOT to expose itself fully.
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These two Hummers suddenly seem to
realize they are being watched by the Mantis yet again (left). Both take
flight at the same moment,
while the one closest to the Mantis flew up to take a swipe at the intruder
(center). A second Hummer flies in from another direction to see what it
can do about dislodging the Mantis (right). At this point, I ran out of
film in my camera and broke off my observation for the time being. As far
as I know, the birds never did knock the Mantis down during that time period, as
it was obviously better protected in its position between the pickets. Not really sure
what additional developments occurred throughout the afternoon hours, as I had other things I needed to do that
day and
broke off my observations of this activity.
I did not have occasion to come back and spend time
watching the Hummers again until the dinner hour that
evening. Therefore, I did not see what actually happened to bring about
the end to this drama, so I can only speculate as to the sequence of events.....
While coming back to the table after getting food from
the kitchen to serve my husband, some movement caught my eye in the area of the top step off the
deck - something simply did not look right. I stepped to the window for a
closer look and saw what appeared to be the Mantis hanging upside down along the
front of the top step while holding something rather large..... To my
horror I realized it had a struggling, juvenile Hummingbird clasped in its spiny
forelegs!!
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I once again grabbed my camera, and
rushed outside to observe what was going on and took the photos shown above. When I reach the
scene (left photo), it quickly became apparent
that I could do nothing that would save the life of the unfortunate Hummer - my
arrival was just too late for that, as the bird was already severely injured. I therefore elected to let nature take
its course and witness this astounding (to me at least) event dispassionately,
rather than reacting in anger at what I saw. I didn't realize that the
Mantis had actually changed its position along the front of the of the deck face
while I was filming the even, until I started making my photo selections.
In the left hand photo, you can see a vertical row of nails and a knot in the
wood to the right of the Mantis/Hummer. In the center photo, the mantis
has moved with the bird over to the right of the row of nails, and onto the knot
area, a distance of perhaps a foot. This is amazing when you consider the
bird must weigh as much and the Mantis does - and all this done while it is
hanging upside down, and actively feeding.
You must realize that this occurrence
was not much different than a lion taking a baby gazelle. It was just a predatory
act on a
much smaller scale. Carnivores must eat meat to live, and the Mantis is a carnivore,
howbeit its diet is usually insects.
As near as we could figure out the sequence of events, the young Hummer, seeing
how the adults were hammering the Mantis, must have decided that he could do
just as good a job of driving off the intruder. Being inexperience, he
must have flown too close and was snatched by the Mantis in flight as he tried
to pull away from his attack dive. Given where I found them, perhaps the Mantis was actually on
the deck floor near the steps when it happened. The Mantis probably was almost
dragged off the deck by the struggling bird, managing at the last second to stop
the progress just over the front of the top step - hence the final, weird
position. (Right photo for an overview of the area.) The gripping capacity of the Mantis' feet seem to be quite
incredible for it to have hung upside down like that for so long a time..
I probably arrived on the scene just minutes, if not
seconds after the above happened. Over the next half hour to 45 minutes,
the Mantis maintained his grip on the struggling (unfortunately alive the
first 15 minutes), hapless Hummer, holding the bird face up. The Mantis
proceeded to devour the entire breast area of the bird before releasing the bird
from its
grip.
Immediately after the attack, I moved the pictured
Hummingbird feeder from that location, out away from the deck and set it up on a
tall "Shepherd's Crook", to avoid a repeat of this disaster.
I had the presence of mind to collect the dead bird and
have placed it in my freezer. I also collected what may, or may not be the
"killer" Chinese Mantis, placed it in a jar, and froze it as
well. I found two specimens in the general area of the attack and chose to
do in what appeared to be the slightly larger of the individuals. The
second Mantis I moved away from where the Hummingbird feeders are located.
Having no formal background knowledge in the fields of Entomology or Ornithology,
I have no idea if this behavior - taking a bird rather than just eating insects
- by the Mantis is a common occurrence or not. However, I went to our
local library and check out the only book on Insects I could find at the
time: Encyclopedia of INSECTS AND SPIDERS by Rod and Ken
Preston-Mafham. In this book on page 45, there is a paragraph that
reads: "Mantids will eat almost anything that comes their way, as
long as they are able to handle it. While insects and spiders form the
main prey, some of the larger species have been seen feeding on small birds,
lizards, and frogs." And of course our Chinese Mantid (Mantis)
certainly did just that!
If anyone
reading this page cares to comment, and/or see the actual photos and the
physical evidence I collect, they are welcome to contact me at phoebe_crosby@bellsouth.net
I would be interested in hearing/reading any and all reactions to this piece...
