Posts in Category: spider
Six-Spotted Fishing Spider
I am in Virginia for meetings at the office this week, and during lunch yesterday I went down to the little industrial estate pond at the edge of our parking lot. There were six species of dragonflies, including a lot of really fresh looking female Eastern Pondhawks (and a Belted Kingfisher!), but the highlight was this spider. According the wiki on the subject, Six-spotted Fishing Spiders should have been common just about everywhere I have lived or visited in North America, but I am certain this is the first one I have ever seen…or at least the first one I have ever looked at. They walk on water, but they live along the shore. This one is hunting. Apparently they will sit like this on the shore or over water, for hours, waiting for prey to come within reach. They can dive under a few inches as well. They are looking for tadpoles, invertebrates, and the occasional small minnow. Hence the name.
The striking pattern and large size (as big as a common Garden Spider) makes them easy to identify (once you actually look at one). I think it could be my best spider to date!
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1 EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 400. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Yellow Garden Spider with Widow Skimmer Wing
If you don’t like spiders you might want to look away!
I was making a lunch hour photoprowl on my Pondhawk-green electric scooter yesterday, walking around Quest Pond to see if any new dragonflies were out, when my work phone rang. I sat down on the bank as it looked like it might be a lengthy call (a three way conference call, and you know how those go) and right there, not 5 feet in front of me in the reeds bordering the pond, just at my sitting eyelevel, was this spider in its web with prey. I could not see, holding the camera up with one hand as I talked, what exactly the spider had caught, but I suspected it was a dragonfly…what else at Quest Pond? It is actually the wing of Widow Skimmer…which has even less meat on it than a chicken wing. I hope the spider was not wanting more than a snack.
For non spider fans, this is the common Yellow Garden Spider, and despite its fierce looks and large size (this female was close to an inch long in the body), it is actually not a bad neighbor, as it generally dines on insects we like even less. I have mixed feelings about the Widow Skimmer…but if was going to take any dragonfly, there are certainly enough Widow Skimmers at Quest Pond this summer so that one will not be missed. If you can get by the fact that it is a spider, you have to admit there is a certain attraction to the bold yellow and black pattern…kind of like police tape at a disaster scene 🙂
And yes, it was a lengthy call.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1 EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-converter function). f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 125.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.