Praying Mantis and Honey Bee

While strolling through my garden, I noticed a large Praying Mantis slowly creeping up a basil plant. It stood motionless and the bees ignored it, going about t...
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While strolling through my garden, I noticed a large Praying Mantis slowly creeping up a basil plant. It stood motionless and the bees ignored it, going about their business. In the blink of an eye, the Mantis snatched a bee from the air and began devouring it alive! Other bees came in close to rescue their hive-mate but it was too late.
I had my Nikon camera with a 300 mm lens as I was photographing helicopters and water-tanker planes attack a fire not far from my studio. Because the mantis was deeply embedded in the maze of basil plants, I had to manually focus for this shot. Aperture; F 6.3 Shutter speed 640- sec. Lens 300 mm. ISO 200 Focus Mode; manual
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