Yeah, definitely a baby praying mantis. I have never seen one that small before, which is why I grabbed the camera and got him to walk up on my finger.

Jim,

I know what you're saying about the attachment you get to the bees. Funny isn't it?

Both of my hives have 2 brood boxes and one has a honey super on it. The bees are drawing comb in the honey super, but no honey yet. It is also my first year, so not sure what I'll get from them this season.

You can see the electric fence I had to put up after the bear chewed on one of the hives earlier this year. The hives are on a slope and carved into the edge of a deciduous forest (I tap the maples for syrup) facing south east. I can stand and watch the girls zoom in and out of the hives for hours.

Click here to view attached image.

Michael,

That's the smallest praying mantis I've ever seen! His daddy would be proud to see him if he still had a head

Laurie-

Yes, it is not always good news so it was fun to do. The term is from an old tradition...

http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/telling_the_bees.html

S2000-

Yup- A while back I was teaching a group of young women and using the term "you guys..." I suddenly wondered if they thought that odd and asked. They said "guys" was pretty generic these days and they used it among themselves all the time. But it was likely a "little gal"...

Jim

A few years ago we bought praying mantises to help control the insects in our garden. We had some babies that were only about ¼" (½cm) long. They were quite cute!

Yeah, that is small. This little guy is about an inch long.

Never seen a praying mantis in person. We don't have them on our side of the globe. Well, at least we have Animal Planet on cable.

Praying mantis is a great bug. Just watching them is fun.

Coming to Nevada in a few weeks, gotta try to find one!

Watching them watching us is cool! Even this little guy would turn his head and follow the movements I was making.

Thanks, Jim!

Praying manti here are decent sized, as far as bugs in the area go. I think the biggest bug I've seen around here was a pine beatle though.

Now I have my mind set on seeing a praying mantis in person!

As for bees, talked with my mother-in-law today and their neighbor ranch has beehives and we're getting some honey from them! Never had other honey than store-bought, so looking forward to that!

Did you, perchance, read magicalaurie's John Lennnon thread just before posting this?

;)