Bee Dinner

This time it wasn't the bee having dinner.

The bee was the dinner.

The preying mantis is a skilled predator in the bee yard.

He/she is disguised to look like a twig.

She'll stay completely still until a bee comes within reach.

Then bam!  She lunges forward and grabs the bee in less than a second.

Next she'll bite off the bee's head.

That ends any arguing from the bee.

Now she can dine in peace.

Later that day I saw her again.

This time she was fifty feet away at the robbing table where I had put out supers of sticky frames.

This could only be described as an all you can eat bee buffet for this predator.

I must say her abdomen was looking kind of fat. 

That's why I think she's female.

She's certainly well fed.