Spider

I've long held that this is the time of the year when the adults of several common web-spinning spiders in Ohio reach their maximum population densities. I can't cite any data to support this belief. It's based entirely on observing their gossamer creations; sometimes annoyingly up-close while hiking forest trials.

 

It's the holiday season (the holiday season...) and many are digging in attics and basements for decorations and bows, stored sweaters, coats and yes... SNOW boots.  Inevitably, Extension offices receive calls about the unfortunate spider (or stink bug) that was found, dead or alive, while sifting through packages, boxes or bags that haven't seen the light of day for a year.  The question is, "Is it a brown recluse?"

 

 

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This is the time of the year in Ohio when female spiders of many web spinning species reach maturity. They become most evident when their gossamer creations are illuminated by early morning sunlight reflecting off a heavy dew. I was lucky to experience this magical but fleeting light effect during an early morning hike around my neighborhood a few days ago.

Autumn light is different from summer light: more golden, as light rays lengthen, with longer shadows.  While there is time, and while the blue skies we have enjoyed all growing season fade to gray as winter beckons, go forth and catch some slanted sun-rays of autumn.  Enjoy the full life of fall.  

  The past few days have brought out the colors of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), often neglected when the best fall foliage plants are listed. As the lead picture shows it is wonderful now, and its fat flower buds promise springtime reprisals.

  Next, enjoy the...

I ran into this spider today; literally.  Not the very same spider.  I last saw that one scurrying away on the ground after dropping from the front of my shirt accompanied by some high-pitched sounds I didn't know I could make.  No doubt the mad spider would have also made noises - if it could - after I blundered through its beautifully constructed orb web.

Some of my best photographs were totally unplanned; a nod to the adage, "it's better to be lucky than good."  During today's S.W. Ohio Diagnostic Walk-About, I was photographing paper wasps and mud dauber nests under the walkway leading to the Tree House when I saw a dark blue wasp saunter into a spider web.  It seemed odd; was the wasp committing insecticide?  The drama was unfolding 6 - 7 ft. from my camera lens, so I couldn't see details.

 

The true story emerged when I processed the image on my computer.  The wasp wasn't becoming the spider's prey; it was the other way...

The 1977 sci-fi movie, Kingdom of the Spiders, that stared William Shatner got it wrong.  Not with tapping Captain Kirk for the lead role, but with the movie's title:  with rare exceptions, only female spiders spin species-typical webs.  It's still a pretty good movie even with the 1970s era special effects.

 

Of course, the downside with such arachnophobic movies is what happens when movie viewers venture forth in the morning.  Ohioans may be surprised at the large number of spiders living near at hand when heavy morning dews accentuate their gossamer creations. ...