Fragments From Floyd

It turns out my made-up name for this little series of posts was closer to the truth than I knew: thanks to Susanna's field guide, she's told us this is a Nursery Web Spider.

While I'm still uncertain of the species, I think this is most definitely our spider momma here. Closely related members of the group are called "fishing spiders" and since this web nursery was within six feet of the creek, I'm checking out these interesting spiders for a match.

While investigating the nursery and seeing the momma spider for the first time, to my surprise, climbing up the stalk toward the web was a big, green grasshopper. Momma saw it too, and turned quickly to face him as he approached. What would she do to ward him off? I was pretty certain this was a gound hunting spider, so she wouldn't know how to wrap web around him and hang in up for dinner.

Tension built as the hopper edged closer and closer. But finally, he began slowly backing up, moving down the stem, and finally managed to get turned head down and got out of harm's way.

As you may have noticed, this image has an artificial, flat appearance--as if it were a diorama in a science museum. I was playing with my new flash, without which there would not have been enough light to capture this stand-off.