Alas, Poor Bee

I was standing very still, intent on spotting a praying mantis in its usual place. Suddenly there was a frantic buzzing at my elbow. Right next to me a honey bee was struggling with something unseen. I bent closer, thinking it might be a spider, but slowly some of the leaves resolved themselves into  the mantis. They can be very hard to see.

This is a male, which is good news. The other two males I have seen this season were caught in spider webs. They are more likely than the females to fly, which puts them at risk of being caught.