So here's this gravid praying mantis perched on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in a Vacaville pollinator garden.

She's in a butterfly state-of-mind, a picture of patience and persistence, a predator like no other.

She doesn't have long to wait.

A migrating monarch butterfly drops down to sip some nectar, a little flight fuel to continue his journey to an overwintering site along the California coast, perhaps 113 miles to Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, he lands on a Mexican sunflower right next to the praying mantis.

The mantis is as still as a stone. She holds her spiked forelegs in the "ready" position, ready to strike. She knows what she wants. She's in a butterfly state-of-mind.

Suddenly, the monarch looks up and notices that the gray "twig" next to him is not part of the flower. In a winged frenzy, he escapes.

And you wonder why many migrating monarch butterflies don't make it to their overwintering sites?