Painted lady soup

I have shown a couple of images showing the flower mantis stalking medium sized butterflies, back in August and to be honest, it looks like the mantis has no chance. Today's blip shows the mantis chowing on a painted lady Vanessa cardui, easily as big as the other two butterflies, so the mantis is a very capable hunter.

From my observations, the mantis' strike rate is not that impressive in comparison to the dragon's published 97%, but a meal this size once a week should keep her going. I don't remember seeing a malnourished mantis on my safaris, although this is the first time I have seen one feeding in the wild.

I know, it's gruesome, probably one of the most gruesome shots that I have published, but such a rare image has to make the big screen. I did post it later, so as not to interfere with your breakfast!

I saw a pair of otters run by today. Unfortunately too far apart to capture with the 105mm. One of them paused briefly before disappearing into the scrub, but the shot was not as good as my previous otter blip, so banished to the storage cabinet.

A later blip tomorrow, I have to go to Singapore, but should be back for a late afternoon safari.

DAve