Common Yellowthroat wrestling with a Praying Manti

[rstrick2]

I went out to Lake Rousseau yesterday to see what birds were about. I found the like quite smooth and gentle breeze. found Coots, Grebes, pelican and the normal anhinga and cormorants out on the lake. Setup near the dam and using the Truck as a blind I was able to capture some coots and Grebe. I decided to over to the fishing pier area which is just off the bank of the lake. Normally the fishing pier area has some small birds in the bushes on the bank. This way I could watch the lake and check out the shoreline at the same time. After a few minutes the small birds accepted me and starting flying around out over the water catching bugs. I noticed they were Yellow-rumped Warblers. When the warbler flew back to the shore they would land where I could get a few nice photos.

As I was photographing the warblers I noticed a movement down low in a little opening in the bushes. Through the lens I noticed a small bird pulling at what I thought was a yellow flower pedal. He grabbed at it several times but it did not come off. I keep photographing as the bird seemed to wrestle with something yellow that looked at first glimpse looked like a yellow flower. Then it dawned on me that it was some kind of bug. I photographed the bird for quite some grabbing at this bug. He would reach out and grab it and back off, grab it and back off. Finally the bird was able to bite through the bugs neck and flew off with his bounty. The bird was a Female Common Yellowthroat and the bug was yellowish green praying mantis. It wasn’t until I got home to see what it was. Apparently the bird had some difficulty with mantis and it seemed like a wrestling match with the bird always on top.