Yesterday, I was watering my pigeonberry and wedelia in pots on our stone patio. I happened to glance down and see a little cobweb spider, hunging upside, perhaps dead (photo above is cropped tight), in the wedelia pot. I nudged her body. No reaction. Dang. Had I hurt her while I was watering? Had I accidentally killed her? I felt sad.
After supper, I checked her again. No reaction. She was DEAD.
Well, just awhile ago, I went outside and crouched down to look yet again. What should I spy?!! ..............
Oh, yes, you're right! Dozens of tiny spiderlings!
How wonderful! They'd evidently just hatched from an eggsac that she'd hidden in the leaf debris. In the photo above, you can see the leaf and some tiny spiders climbing up a strand of silk to join their siblings above. She stayed with her eggs until right before they hatched. Isn't that amazing? I love to watch and witness Mother Nature.
2 comments:
Great photos! Mother love is an inspiring force.
I share your appreciation of the spiders that share our spaces. Occasionally when I go out to wash and refill the hummingbird feeders there will be one of those "every AM I build a new web" spiders set up anchored to the feeder chain. When that happens I leave the maintenance until later in the day so the spider has a chance to capture its meal and bring the web back in without being disturbed.
Yay! Also, I always check my hummer feeders for spiders before I wash and rinses them out to refill.
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