Here is a tiny intimidating spider. The Spined Micrathena is a spider about one quarter
of an inch long, and looks as though he is draging a leaf fragment behind him. This is my first
sighting of the Micrathena. Its' front end looks like a scorpion, how it holds its forelegs
inward. It has two rear legs which are extremely long, compared to its other legs.
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This is a female wolf spider carring her young on her back! A co-worker found it and put
her into a cup to show me. When looked at closely, her back seemed to move. If you touch her
back, they all scatter in every direction!
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My co-worker told me of two large spiders living in his shed. I took a ride over to see
them. I found the smaller of the two - about two inches long in total length! The largest
wolf spider i've ever seen!
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Here is a funnel-web spider making his home in some garden blocks. Looks to be picking
his teeth with his foot...
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Hunting the hunter. These large, scary-looking garden spiders that cover the fields and
haunt some of our dreams, prefer to keep to themselves and avoid people. I have began
finding these black and yellow spiders only recently. I have been watching, but they seem
to appear in the month of August(?). There are hundreds of small flying grasshoppers that
scatter into the winds with every step you take. I watched as a grasshopper sprang right
into the web of an ever ready garden spider. The spider moved so quickly and had the grass-
hopper spinning in a spray of webbing. As soon as the spider wraped her pray, she sank her
fangs into its abdomen. Then she walked back to the center of the web, turning 'til she's
facing downward, and dabbed the web with her spinnerets to create a new 'dragline' to
support her.
I believe the small spider in the vertical photo is the male spider waiting to mate. (I
wonder, does he know what he's in for...?)
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The results of the new honeymooners...the egg sac. This sac is made out of a papery-type
webbing in which the eggs are laid. The spider dies shortly after laying the eggs. The eggs
will hatch before the winter, but the young will spend the winter inside the sac. After it
warms in the spring, the spiderlings come out to feed, be feed, and to produce the next
generation of spiders.
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The daddy long legs. This creature is not a spider at all. Even thought it looks like
a spider, it's not. The fact is that spiders have two main body segments, the abdomen and
a cephalothorax to which their eight walking legs are attached. The daddy long legs and the
'harvestsmen' (looks like the daddy long legs), has one body segment which discludes it
from the spider classification. They are still creepy like the spider!
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Did you ever stop to observe the movements of the spider in its web? It dosen't grab
the web as it moves, but instead, it has a 'hook' at the end of each leg which simply snags
the web strands as it moves. In this photo it looks as if the spider defies gravity. The
hooks can be seen if you look closely.
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There are spiders that live in the leaves and branches of the fields. They drag behind
a safety line of silk as they climb the weed for food. The safety line is for when they
jump from leaf to leaf. They are usually only about one-quarter of an inch long. They also
have unusually long fore-legs which they use to grasp the leaf on to which they have jumped.
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The earth is so large. We can travel its lands by plane or by boat, but we still can't
understand its total size. The insect world is no different. Stand and survey a grassy
field. Walk into its midst and observe. Insects will fly, leap, or scatter as you approach.
Then, nothing. All creatures are gone, or are they? Squat down and watch the weeds. Little
by little, you will see insects materialize before your eyes. Spiders and leafhoppers, moths
and bugs of all shapes and sizes.
Some of these spiders have to be sought out carefully, being they are small (1/8") and
don't want to make themselves known...
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A few spiders from end of June / first of July.
The first photo is a spider on top of a mesquito caught in the web. The second is a
close-up of the same photo.
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In the area behind the place of my employment, there was a field containing many wild
flowers and some trees. There were also two ponds used by the now demolished
New Haven Foundry. A developer has come in and leveled the area, and is in the act of
draining the ponds to fill them in. This was the place in which I have seen my first live
mink with her burrow in the bank of the larger pond. I could not get a photo of her, but I
do have a mental picture of her bringing back a mouse for her young. This act of 'progress'
has eliminated a large amount of photo oppertunities for me. I am thankful to have gotten
the photos I do have, most of which you see here and on the Nature page from 2005.
There is still a little creek running through the back, where I shot a large water spider.
I sat there trying to photograph a violet colored damselfly for about 20 minutes, when I
suddenly noticed this spider sitting motionless. His legs spanned out to 1.5" in diameter!
It is a six-spotted fishing spider. You have to either take my word for it, or turn him
up-side-down to see the six black spots on his underside! This spider will actually dive
beneath the water to get small fish or water bugs.
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Once you start watching the ground for insects, you find a giant world
full of tiny creatures. I walk through the fields and stop at random, looking for any
movement on the ground. The amount of spiders is amazing! Many assorted colors and
shapes.
The third photo has a leaf hopper, an ant and a spider all together on the stem of a
small plant.
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While working in the garden, I come across a few of these spiders.
They are quite harmless and plentiful (and only 1/4 inch long!).
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I had located a large spider in the field behind the place of my employment. This
spider reminded me of what we would refer to as a 'banana' spider as a kid. We would go
to the fields and pick blackberries. It seems that is when we would find them near the
blackberry patches.
This particular spider is not that banana spider, but it was still the largest i've seen
this year. I watched it for about seven days, when, on my last trip, I noticed he was
gone from the web. Upon closer examination, I found his last meal still clinging to the
web, and right next to it was one of the spiders' legs! I guess a bird saw him waving
in the breeze, and stopped in for a snack!
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Did you ever think of a spider as being cute and cuddly? One you could hold and call your
own? The first photo shows a small spider looking out from is web in the midst of an
old Queen-Annes Lace flower head.
The second spider is a neat shot on a sea of green...
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This is a 'Funnel-web spider'.
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I have been studying spiders lately. When I was a kid, I remember walking through
the fields near my parents house. Usually in the fall of the year, just as the leaves
would begin falling and the airs would be cool and damp, there were large spiders which
would build their webs across any path made by animal or man. So, as I would make my
way out to the fields to play, I would remember to look for these webs only after I ran
into them, and they would be stretched across my chest or face! Talk about a rude
awakening. You would shudder at the prospect of having that big scarry spider possibly
crawling around on you yet! Even though the spider would sit in the middle of the web,
its only concern was to get away from what ever destroyed its web.
It doesn't matter now, even though I am bigger and older, I still hate to
walk into one of those large spider webs!
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There is a spider web that I frequent almost daily. It is the first spider I
have seen attack, bite and wrap into a web caccoon for later. I have also seen its nasty
fangs!!
This next group of photos shows a japanese beetle caught in the spiders web...With the
last photo showing the spider extruding what appears to be a 'spray' of webbing. I thought
spiders only produced a thin thread for making webs...
This type of spider is called a 'common orb weaver', so called for the orb shaped web
they weave.
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As I shot this spider with the Japanese beetle, blue flies were all over my hands
as I tried to shoot. One fly took off and hit the web. The spider stopped what it was doing,
and like lightning, raced to the fly and bit it. The spider wrapped a little web around it,
then returned to the beetle. A few moments later, another fly flew into the web. It
struggled for a minute, then rested. The spider finished taking care of the beetle, then
came down to the fly, grabbed it, and took it up into its hiding spot in the leaves
of the plant supporting its web.
Did you know a spider will pull plant leaves together and bind them with webbing
to form a cover from the sun and rain...(Last photo in series).
