Most people are surprised to learn that the praying mantis will successfully capture, kill, and eat a hummingbird!

A praying mantis lurks on a hummingbird feeder, watching carefully as a hummingbird hovers near the sugary water.

With one quick motion, the mantis grabs at the hummingbird—and misses. Carnivorous mantises feed most frequently on insects or spiders, but zoologists from Switzerland and the United States have published research indicating that mantises also kill and devour small birds on all the continents except Antarctica.

These cunning predators have been recorded eating hummingbirds … It’s rare, but it’s gruesome.

Praying mantids are fast and can snatch a hummingbird out of the air. For those unaware that praying mantises eat small birds… Mantises are known to hang around hummingbird feeders in people’s gardens, and they’re doing more than just bird-watching.