iN VIDEO: Praying mantis bobs and sways in South Okanagan

Osoyoos resident Kathryn Ilse captured close-up footage of a praying mantis perched on the side of her house making a bobbing and swaying motion last week.

The insects never fail to fascinate bug lovers with their alien-like appearance and aggressive hunting behaviours.

“I think it was in hunting mode trying to get closer to a fly that was caught in a web,” Iles said. “It was very cool. We’ve seen mantids here before but not making that type of movement.”

There are two types of mantid in the province. The introduced European mantis is a green, leafy colour, while the native ground mantis like the one on Ilse’s house is brown like a twig. The South Okanagan is the only place the latter can only be found in Canada, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

“We’ve seen the green ones before, they’re so pretty,” Ilse said. “My kids have held them in the past and the mantids are gentle and reach their little arms out, it’s cute.”

Ilse, an avid gardener, said if she finds a mantid egg sac in her yard, she makes sure to protect it from her pet dogs and other foot traffic.

“The egg sacs are strange looking, like all dried out looking,” she said. “We had one in our garden a couple of times and all these itty bitty babies came out. It’s very exciting, it means we should get more of them and we enjoy seeing them so much.”