“I've removed a praying mantis from my hummingbird feeder several times and trimmed the plants away, but it keeps coming back. How can I prevent it? wonders Millington, Tennessee resident Terry Hathcock.
A huge mantis can catch and consume hummingbirds, so this is dangerous. After settling on your feeder, a mantis may return to catch a hummingbird.
The mantis might be caught and taken to a natural habitat a few kilometers away and released. If that seems too much work and you don't want to kill the mantis, pull the feeder down for a few days and let it find a new hunting site.
When hummingbirds approached to feed, this praying mantis scared them away. Why? says Germantown, Tennessee resident Janice Bogott.
Praying mantises explore and even sit on hummingbird feeders. Mantises, which prey on smaller insects, may catch bees and other feeder-attracted bugs.
Hummingbirds have been caught and killed by big mantises. The mantis in your shot may not have been big enough to catch a ruby-throated hummingbird, but we move them if they're near our feeders.
“I found it odd that this hummingbird circled this flower without landing. The praying mantis was lurking under the blossom. To let the hummingbird land on the blossom without worry, Michele Carter of Newport, North Carolina, quickly and carefully moved the mantis.