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

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
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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

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
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The End of the Line

Each fall morning as we leave our house to drive to school and the Museum, my daughter pushes me out of the door first. Somewhere along the line she has acquired a fear of spiders and a distinct aversion to their webs (this is very common aversion). In the fall there’s lots of spider webs about, several on my back porch. If I go out the door first my passage tends to clear a path for her, I wipe outRead more