Thursday, May 26, 2011

Creepy crawly, but cool

Yeah, first it was snakes and now it's spiders.  I can't help it.  They're just cool.  Robin, I should dedicate this post to you, unless spiders aren't quite as grody as snakes.  Lol.

I was watching the bees on the apple trees the other day, and noticed one was just sort of hanging there, not moving.  I looked closer, and saw this...


From what I've been able to find online, I think this is a crab spider.  I think.  I was pretty impressed that such a small spider was able to ambush and subdue that bee.  You can guestimate the size by the bee, and the apple blossom the spider is sitting on. 

So, later that evening, I pulled down a lilac branch to take a whiff of the blossoms.  I nearly got a snoot-full of moth.  Lo and behold, another spider.  Now I was really impressed.  That moth was pretty big.



Anyhoo, there's my grody post for the month.  :)

4 comments:

Paula said...

Rae your pictures are gorgeous! Of course, I was a little choked up over the bee, but spider's gotta eat too.

The moth pic was really great though!

Miriam said...

Okay, nature's beautiful and all that - but ick! Ick in a weirdly fascinating kind of way...

Rae said...

Paula- Thanks! I am really happy with our little digital camera. I'm tempted to post a couple closeups, as in some of the pics you can see the spider's eyes, and all the little hairs and pollen grains on the bugs. I was a little sad about the bee too. Goodness knows, there aren't as many out there as there used to be... at least it seems so.

Miriam- I agree, a bit ick, but so very neat. Then again, LJ thinks I'm odd because I have been caught sitting in the weeds, watching a field spider build a web. I geek out on this sort of stuff. :)

Robin said...

HAHAHAAAAA! That spider has a little bit of an alien look to it. I think it's cool outside but if I saw that alien looking spider inside I would get the "pretty please" take care of it look on my face for Lee. That moth is cool looking. It's wings have a pretty green color on them. There have been some rather boring looking brown moths that have been hanging out on our window for the last week.

I've seen some garter snakes snake around here this last week. I refrained from petting them. :)