Ms. Mantis Waiting for Lunch
Bee and butterflies love the patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in our Vacaville garden.
For several months now, they've been buzzing and fluttering around the six-to-eight-foot-high plants, sipping nectar and returning for more. It's a serene place for pollinators except for the male territorial longhorned bees determined to own the patch and target "the invaders." As the late UC Davis bee scientist Robbin Thorp used to say: "They're trying to save the nectar for the females of their species so they can mate with them."
But today, peering over one of the orange blossoms, was something green....a praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. She looked hungry. So much fast food! So much! And all so elusive!
Ms. Mantis stood still, very still, patiently waiting for a "Flower Dash" (opposite of "Door Dash"). But in the sweltering heat, she finally chose shade. She slipped beneath the blossom, remaining unnoticed except for her distinctive shadow.
She shall return. She'll eat tomorrow. A bee. Or a butterfly. (Excuse me, Ms. Mantis, wouldn't you rather have a lygus bug or a stink bug than a pollinator?)
