The weather has warmed up a bit in the last couple of days. We got some work done outside; pruned some bushes, pulled a few handfuls of weeds, moved a plant or two. The birds and bugs have been mostly quiet until now, but with the slight warmth they have come out of hiding. The chickadees have been at the feeder all day today, and mosquitoes are out for blood. Ripping up invading stems of dead nettle, I disturbed a nest of harvestmen (daddy long-legs); they took off running in all directions.
And a big cross spider, Araneus diadematus (I think), ousted Chica from her protected spot and guarded his own web there for two days. Last night, he moved; he started a large web anchored on Laurie's bike, the top of the garden wall and the screen door. When I stepped out in the morning, I walked right through it.
Spider web on my face. I hate that.
The central part of the web was intact; I exacted my revenge by setting up the tripod a couple of inches away and clicking at him. Finally, I removed the anchors from the bike and he scooted off, winding up the remains of his web in a ball as he went.
He's probably out there now, rebuilding.While I had the camera and close-up lens outside, I went prowling. See what I found!
On the wall beside my bedroom window, a tiny brown moth, Scoparia biplagialis.
In a rolled up hydrangea leaf, a shy earwig:
Look at that jar-opener tail end!Among the spores on a common "weed" fern, a leaf-hopper, so tiny that I didn't even notice it until I had the camera focussed. I think it's a privet leafhopper, Fiebriella. Around its feet, miniature orange bugs wandered here and there. I could barely see them with the naked eye. You can see one here, just a blurred spot of orange a bit to the rear of the leafhopper.
On another frond, I found a smaller hopper, whether a nymph of the same species or a different one, I don't know. And I think that's its cast-off molt beside it.
And finally, near Chica's new home high on the wall, a happy couple of lauxaniid flies:
I keep checking. No spiderlings yet in Fat Momma's web. How long is the incubation period? Anybody know? It's been three weeks already.
It's funny but I was just thinking about FM this morning! Those a some beautiful macro shots of the clustered spores. I like how the light shines through parts of that big spider.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a good moth/butterfly field guide that you would recommend?
ReplyDeleteHi, Lynne,
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't found a good field guide for m/bs. All the ones I see tend to focus on the most spectacular ones, or have photos thatdon't line up to anything in this area. I think one reason is that these creatures are so variable.
I use BugGuide, but with moths, I have to click through hundreds of similar photos, sometimes a dozen or more different moths from the same species. I don't know if they show regional differences or if, instead, they're more like humans; no two alike.