I discovered this praying mantis in my garden as I was poking around in the yard. When I first saw it he was empty clawed, perched and waiting for prey, but when I went back some minutes later to take a look he had managed to snag a small butterfly.

This is only the second one I recall ever seeing around these parts. The other one I found on top of a tent of a classmate way back in sixth grade when we were camping up at Sage Hill during a class outing. Aside from a tarantula it was the prize find, as we were up there specifically for an insect gathering experience.