Preying Mantises are truly apex predators, in their world. I have seen pictures of them devouring hummingbirds, but always kind of thought that must be highly unusual.

Well, it turns out, it is not unusual at all, but fairly common for larger mantis to capture and eat hummingbirds. Think of the physical stress the mantis reacts to when it grabs a flying hummingbird out of the air - I am amazed it doesn't go for an aerial ride, which suggests to me that the mantis has done this enough to know what to expect, it has experience.

Praying Mantis Snags Hummingbird in FlightThe praying mantis is regarded as a fierce hunter in the insect world. Younger mantises often have to contend with bigger and badder bugs, such as jumping spiders and other mantises, but adults have far fewer predators. Generally, adult mantises only need to worry about birds - but in some cases, birds need to worry about [...]roaring.earth

Praying mantis tries to make hummingbird a mealA Matthews, Ind., man saw a hummingbird caught in the grip of a praying mantis.www.thestarpress.com

Google has pages of this kind of material- who knew!?

Hummingbirds tend to hover in front of a flower or feeder prior to committing to it. Mantids are ambush hunters, so they lie in wait in those areas. I've never seen it myself but I imagine they mostly snag the hummingbirds while they hover in place or wait for them to land, which would mean they don't have to worry quite so much about getting ripped off their perch. Hummingbirds may be physically larger, but they only weigh about as much as a female praying mantis. They have been known to catch bigger and heavier animals, though.

Bug vs. Bird: Praying Mantises Feast on Feathered PreyMany bird species are known to dine on insects, but for a dozen species of praying mantises, birds aren't the predators - they're the prey. Carnivorous mantises are deadly hunters that use their powerful front legs to capture insects and spiders; some larger species have even been observed nabbing small vertebrates, such as amphibians, lizards, snakes and mice.www.livescience.com

A little bit of good news:

Washington state captures two murder hornet queens alive, days after destroying first known nestThe team also uncovered the radio tag that led them to the nest in the first place - which appeared to have been chewed off.www.cbsnews.com

Turns out bees can swarm individual murder hornets 🐝: start at 2:45

It's not likely that the European honey bees we have would be able to do this, though. They didn't evolve alongside the giant Asian hornets like the Japanese honey bees have. That's where the real problem is - our bees don't have any known defense to a predator like this.