My favorite black and yellow Argiope, also known as a zipper orbie, caught a grasshopper in her web and wrapped it up Friday. This is a big job even for a big girl like her. She has been showing off for garden visitors for a week now, and mostly getting oohs and ahs and photos. Some folks cannot be enticed to walk down the little trail to see her, no matter how I explain that she is good luck for a gardener and won't hurt people.
Yesterday the web was sparkling with raindrops. After almost an inch of wonderful precipitation a family watched in awe as a metallic green fly got stuck in the web. All four family members were sad when the fly fell out of the web while the spider was rushing over to wrap it.
The rain did not deter the hummingbirds from swooping through the garden to the vibrant red cannas. This pipevine swallowtail waited until the rain let up to visit the lantana.
© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder
3 comments:
A neighbor I know only vaguely stopped me on the street a month or so ago to point out what he was staring at on his fence. It turned out that he had been growing California Pipevine in order to help the Swallowtail butterflies flourish. There were some very healthy looking black caterpillars with red dots on the plant. So I have been trying to remember to look for some actual butterflies when I go past, but so far, no luck. The way he described them looks something like your pictures.
Oh, so many marvels and beauties!
We called those "garden spiders" when I was a kid. There seemed to be entire cities of them in our pasture
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