Here's a picture of a mantis devouring a hummingbird. When I was growing up in Elgin, I never saw a mantis. Now I occasionally see them just about everywhere--lawns, golf courses, prairie. I even saw a red one once at Bluff Spring Fen. I guess some rotten kid released a breeding pair and they lost no time getting to work. I don't even know the effect that it's had on the local ecology. From what I understand, they eat mostly grasshoppers.