Top Photo: A worker yellowjacket enters the tunnel to its subterranean hive. Yellowjackets nest underground, though they may construct a hive in a hollowed out log, under the siding of your house, or in other seemingly vacant and unattended cavities. The ground, however, is the most frequent site chosen by a queen in spring. A single queen constructs the below-ground hive and tends to the initial eggs, larvae and pupae. Once workers emerge from pupation they take over all dutiesRead more
Posts tagged: #orb weaver
A Spider and a Resting Monarch
Top Photo: Spider takes refuge under magnolia leaf. After my having walked through it’s partially deconstructed web, the architect and builder retreated to the underside of a sturdy southern magnolia leaf. It was an orb weaver which tells you what kind of web it builds and what family of spiders it belongs to, Araneidae. Araneidae build the stereotypical webs most people are familiar with. The webs are vertically oriented, circular webs placed across paths, roads, walkways, between shrubs and trees,Read more
The Cicada and the Spider
Top Photo: Cicada caught in orb weaver’s web. It’s fall, and orb weavers are becoming more and more conspicuous on trails and paths, around gardens, back porches and decks. The other morning while I walked the outdoor loop here at the museum, I noticed a cicada struggling mightily about twenty feet above the path near the entrance to the boardwalk. It had gotten itself caught in the web of an orb weaver. Sticky stuff, those webs. The cicada was flappingRead more
First Argiope of the Season.
Whatever you call it, golden orb weaver, yellow and black garden spider, yellow and black argiope, writing spider, or zig-zag spider this large, common orb weaver is known binomially as Argiope aurantia. The one pictured has stationed itself at the Black Bear Overlook in Explore the Wild. Its a bit early in the season for this species. I usually don’t see them until fall has arrived. They’re here all summer long, just smaller and more hidden, but fall is whenRead more
Daggers, Spiders, and A Leaf
Although it’s in the upper eighties as I write this, it’s fall, and fall things are happening. Caterpillars are crawling off to form cocoons in which to pupate over winter, orb weavers are constructing webs seemingly everywhere you turn, and leaves are morphing to shades that dazzle the eye. The last time I saw an American dagger moth caterpillar was in September of 2016 here at the Museum. I saw three daggers just this week (10/10/17). The dagger moths areRead more
Spider Time
Its not until fall that most of us become aware of the spiders in our lives, specifically the orb weavers. Orb weavers erect those large circular webs between tree branches, overhead wires, fence posts, porch posts, across the path your walking on, and just about everywhere else you might happen to be during your daily travels about the landscape. If there’s suitable substrate, something to attach a web to, a spider will do it. The spiders have been doing their web building allRead more
Bluebird Update 7.14.15
The last of the active nests has been vacated. The three bluebirds that have been fed and protected by their parents for the past several weeks in the nest box at the Butterfly House, have fledged. They are out in the real world learning how to secure food for themselves, find shelter, and hopefully avoid predators. The only activity in any of the nest boxes is that of spiders and wasps. The paper wasp nest at the Sailboat PondRead more
Misty Mornings
Top Photo: Jewelweed dripping with dew. With cooler nights come misty mornings. If you need evidence that spiders and other web building creatures are about in great numbers simply go out for a walk and see for yourself. Longed-jawed spiders are in a different family than the familiar orb weavers that constructed the webs in the top six photos. Orb weavers are part of the Araneidae family of spiders. Long-jaweds are in theRead more
Spider Time
If you’re the first one on the paths or trails in the morning during the next month or so, whether here at the Museum or on your favorite hiking trail, you’re likely to come face to face (literally) with a spider web. A face full of spider web is an uncomfortable feeling for most folks. Even if you like spiders (it seems many people don’t), most people react by immediately tearing away at the web, get OFF of me! And,Read more