Some littles

A little orbweaver on a leaf.

A little running crab spider from Blanco State Park. 

A little crab spider on a zinnia flower.

A little bird grasshopper on a narrowleaf coneflower flower.

A little spittlebug on a salvia stem.

A little treehopper on a plant.

A little ichneumonid wasp that I fished out of a birdbath.

The life and times of giant lichen orbweavers

While walking in the back yard last week, I encountered a HUGE orbweb strung over a path. Well, right away I knew who'd made the web because of its enormous size –  a giant lichen orbweaver (Araneus bicentenarius). I also knew that in order to meet the architect, I'd have to return after dark. That's when these spiders emerge from their high retreats – usually under a roof eave or in a tree branches – to build or repair their orbwebs. Sure enough, I went out a night or two later and got some good photos of her. Isn't she beautiful?

I marked both sides of her web in the path with flags. But I forgot to tell James. He thought I'd marked plants (which I sometimes do) and walked through the web. Bad me! 

Alas, last Saturday I forgot to put my popsicle-stick raft back into our AC drip bucket. So I found a fatality at the bottom of the bucket – a male giant lichen orbweaver. I felt awful. See how much smaller he is than her?

 

As an aside, I used my new Ulanzi light accessory on my phone to get the photos of the orbweaver after dark. It worked great! I can't wait to blacklight with it! 

A fashionable lacewing larva

Last Saturday, I spied an interesting character on a pearl milkweed vine in our back yard. In years past, I've blogged about debris-carrying larvae of green lacewings. But THIS ONE would have won a trophy in a decorating contest! What caught my eye (and yours, too) is the bright yellow blob on its side. That's the carcass of an oleander aphid (Aphis nerii), which often infest milkweeds. The lacewing larva sucked the aphid dry, then stuck it on its back along with other insect leftovers and dead bits of foliage. Biologists believe that lacewing larvae disguise themselves like this to fool predators, including ants. I think they're funny looking. 

See the larva's head and mandibles?

 

Thank YOU, Blanco fifth graders

For the third year in a row, I presented a lightened-up version of my spider program to Mrs. Blenden's fifth graders at Blanco Elementary School last Wednesday. In return, I received this bright bundle of hand-written thank-you notes. So fun! I love interacting with kids about spiders and other nature topics. I guess you could call it one of my ministries. 

Yay! That's my big request of kids... Please don't kill spiders! 

Let's talk about spiders!

James and I spent the morning at Blanco State Park, where I visited with campers about spiders. My main message is always Please don't stomp on spiders! For Ms. Sheryl, at least. Altogether, we had 13 kids and 22 adults stop by and chit chat. It was a bit breezy so we had to hold onto the boards so they wouldn't topple over (which they did once). 

One boy shared his favorite spider book with me. He was VERY in the know about spiders! I think I'm going to get me my own copy. 

Javier, who was at camping with his wife and son (they live in San Antonio), shared his photo with me of a bold jumping spider that he photographed at McKinney Falls State Park. What struck me was the color of the spider's chelicerae (jaws). I don't think I've seen one with this really blue color before. They're usually green or greenish blue. Beautiful!

This was a spiderling that one of the boys from the campgrounds helped me catch at our spider table. I believe she's a juvenile running crab spider. 

Day in the Park 2026

Yesterday James and I – along with other Texas Master Naturalistss from the Highland Lakes chapter – volunteered at the annual Day in the Park for Blanco third graders at Blanco State Park. Altogether we hosted 73 kids, five teachers and more than 10 parents/adults. During the day, the kids rotated through six stations that included honeybees, bats, bird nesting, fish/habitats, monarchs vetebrates and – of course – SPIDERS. At our station, we had Matt Jary helping out, too. It was a great day! 

 

And, oh, I gave my spider presentation to Blanco fifth-graders Wednesday! A lot of them remembered me from Day in the Park two  years earlier. My cool (old) spider T-shirt helps in that department.  

Photo by Al Lillis

Photo by Katy Tiedemann

Photo by Katy Tiedemann

Me at the very end of the day. 

We got into the car to leave and guess what I found in my hat?! Why, a tiny spider, of course. If any of the third graders had been there to see it, they would have told me it was a crab spider. Which was right! They were so smart and listened well to my chitchat about spiders. 

Notes to myself

Last week, a fellow Master Naturalist brought bearded iris rhizomes to share at our meeting. I grabbed a couple of bags. Yesterday we planted them in a front bed. We used to have a lot of irises, many of which were here before I moved into the house back in 2002. But our darn neighborhood white-tailed deer (which number a LOT these days) have gnawed them away. Thanks to "smart" people who've brought  exotic species to Texas, we also have a large herd of axis that live in and wander through our neighborhood. (Thanks for letting me vent.)

 

Another Master Naturalist couple brought me cowpen daisies (Verbesina encelioides) ready to plant. I put them in another front-yard bed and hope that they reseed. We've planted them before, and they reseeded a season or two. Then they pooped out. 

What a spring!

Spring 2026 has been phenomenal! In February, I was about as downcast as our native gardens looked. Then a few rains came. Wow, the plants rejoiced and responded in a huge way! As for me, I feel better, too. Here are a few sample photos of our front and back yards....

Engelmann daisies are prolific.

Narrowleaf coneflower looks the best it ever has!

And the velvetleaf mallows (right) are GIANTS!