I spend a lot of time watching and photographing insects engaged in a variety of activities, usually pollenating flowers. Spend enough time out on the trails, observing and taking photographs, and you start to notice the ambush predators. The ones that sit motionless, hidden in the blossoms, their camouflage blending almost perfectly with their surroundings. The Praying Mantis is one such predator, seamlessly blending in with the numerous branches and stems, they wait for something to come close enough to grasp with their powerful forelimbs.

I came across this scene out on the Miller Woods trail in the Indiana Dunes National Park. I must have just missed the moment when the Mantis caught the Moth which was still struggling.

Now of course the Mantis was likely not considering killing and eating me. But they are predators, and through their eyes pretty much everything is either prey or a threat. What really made an impression on me was the degree of visual acuity which the Mantis showed. Its eyes were absolutely locked in on me, tracking my every movement no matter how slight. It was intensely focused on me, and only me.

I’ve been down on the ground at eye level with snakes, just a couple feet away taking similar photographs as they watch me. Sometimes they appear to be looking into your eyes too, but they are so motionless that it feels more like they think you won’t see them as long as they don’t move. The moment you make any movement at all, off they go. The stare of the Mantis however, that was a bit creepy. Almost like it really was trying to decide if I was prey, or not!