Almost a meal, Mantis!
I was praying I got a good shot of this mantis because we had a scare one evening. I was at my sister Nancy's for a few days in rural Maryland. In the winter I take photos of birds in the summer it's butterflys. This year we have the mantis here. On the second evening of my visit we were in the family room when my bro-in-law John said "hey look at that!". What do we see but a flash of red in the form of one of the male cardinals that make their home nearby. Then we realized "OH CRAP" that is where the mantis was showing off. We rushed out side and couldn't find him anywhere. So we thought him a gonner, dinner for a Cardinal Family. But it wasn't so, the next day the mantis was back on top of the shrub and here is the proof.