Have you released a praying mantis in your yard ?

[Rollo]

3. That is typical of mantises...

After hatching they tend to migrate, perhaps to the next yard or yards. I guess it's some sort of population protection strategy. Because, you know, they will eat each other if kept confined.

I put a mantid egg case in the back yard here some years ago. One of them, as I recall, actually grew up and may have returned. I remember seeing an adult in the yard a month or two later.

Mantids are very cool, and generally beneficial. Although I've read they can predate honey bees as well as nuisance insects.