[va-bird] Strange Incident with Hummingbird

I just emailed Bob Sargent for information about this strange (and
gruesome) occurrence.  Has anyone on the list-serve had any similar
experience?

Hi Bob,

We had the most bizarre occurrence here near Lynchburg, and I wondered if
you could give me some information.

A lady from Amherst County who runs about six hummingbird feeders had
noticed that on one of her feeders hanging near a large butterfly bush
there was a problem with a Praying Mantis.  This particular insect (and
she felt that it was the same one) was very large and a dusky green
color.  It would appear on the feeder, hanging on to one of the perches. 
Sometimes she would see it up-side-down hanging on the feeder and at
other times it would be perched there as if it were drinking nectar. 
Anyway, when it was there,  the hummingbirds avoided that feeder.  She
would go out and remove the Praying Mantis, and the birds would go back
to the feeder, but eventually the Praying Mantis would come back.

In late July she went out early one morning to change the nectar and
found a dead hummingbird slumped over the perch of the feeder.  The bird
had wounds around the neck and a large, deep wound on the breast.  She
had no idea what had happened and thought that maybe it had died as a
result of the fights that always go on among the birds visiting the
feeder.  Anyway, she removed the dead bird and really did not think too
much about it.

This past Thursday (August 29), she went out to change the nectar and
heard loud twittering (she said that she just knew that it was a distress
call) coming from the direction of that feeder.  When she got there the
Praying Mantis had a hummingbird.  It had clasped the bird around the
neck and was eating it (biting on the bird?s breast).  She ran in the
house, got scissors, cut off the head of the Praying Mantis, and rescued
the bird (which was still alive).  The bird had what looked like a large
abrasion-type wound to the breast (the wound was in the exact same place
as that one she had seen on the dead bird that she had found in July). 
Anyway, the wound on the rescued bird did not appear to be deep, so she
took it to a local vet and the bird seems to be recovering.  As of today
(Saturday) the bird is alive and the vet has taken it home for the
weekend.

My question is, have you ever heard of such a thing?  I?ve read that
there are large spiders in Central America that sometimes catch small
birds in their webs and will then eat the birds.  I?ve never heard of a
Praying Mantis doing anything like this.

Best regards,
Thelma      

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