Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider
The butterflies aren’t the only creatures that like hanging out in the bottom pasture. The tall weeds make for some excellent anchors for spider webs.
There’s one humongous garden spider on the hunt there. I believe this species is an Argiope aurantia, commonly known as the Black and Yellow Garden Spider or Writing Spider.
Black and Yellow Garden Spider
She’s a top notch predator. I say she, because the female spiders are much larger than males, growing almost an inch and a half long. Big Mamas! Males only grow about 3/4 inch long. This is definitely an Amazon, a female warrior of the species!
Breakfast!
Look at her carrying this big bug around! Must be some muscle power in those long legs.
Bug Toting Spider.
She obviously has no trouble getting that bug anywhere she wants it.
But what next? Oh wow, she’s got a dilemma! There are TWO bugs caught in her web. Which should she eat first???
Spider With Two Bugs
Eeny meeny miney moe, wonder which way to go!
Thankfully, big as this spider is, she can’t catch every bug and butterfly in the meadow!
Butterfly on bramble leaf.
This Caped Crusader can still fly safe, knowing it’s too big for Miss Spidey’s web!
Into The Wild Blue Yonder
We have some butterfly bushes along the fence by the front yard. They smell good and have pretty flowers, but their biggest virtue is… well…. just like their name suggests. They attract butterflies.
This one was poised for flight when I snapped the picture.
Off into the Wild Blue Yonder!
I’m not sure if that’s a bee or fly or what already in the air, but the butterfly is all set to take off after it.
We like butterflies around here, and since we have a lot less grazing critters, we’re letting the bottom pasture grow wild again. It’s full of Joe Pye Weed and Ironweed and Goldenrod and other goodies that butterflies enjoy.
Bottom Pasture
I’m not sure what the plant is with the white flower heads. Okay brainy people, who knows?
Whatever it is, the butterflies like it.
Humming Right Along
I was walking down in the bottom pasture when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I got my camera up and focused quickly, but the picture isn’t all I hoped for.
The little hummingbird was sipping nectar from a Cardinal Plant in the shadows, with bright sunshine behind. That makes it hard to get much detail on the stuff in the shadow, but still, she’s a pretty little thing.
Maybe next time I’ll have better luck.
Spiders
Of spiders inside and outside and webcrawlers, oh my!
If you’ve been reading Rural Ramblings for very long, you might have noticed I have a love/hate relationship with spiders.
When the spiders are outside, I often take pictures of their webs, and even of the spiders themselves.
But on the inside I was trying to get one off the ceiling not too long ago when I fell and broke a set of shelves, a full-length mirror and my finger. Then I bombed the basement when nothing else seemed to work to get rid of the little web crawlers down there.
However, there’s yet another kind of spider on my mind these days. Webcrawling spiders. Those software programs used to index websites, and to help determine ranking on Google.
When I told a friend this was a case where I actually want spiders around, she immediately responded, “So now you LIKE spiders? You WANT spiders??? But you just bombed the spiders!!!!”
Yeah, I know. And when I read her comment, here’s what popped in MY mind…
SPIDERS
I don’t like spiders in the house,
Upon a chair or on the couch.
I don’t like spiders on my bed
Or falling down upon my head.
Upon a chair or on the couch.
I don’t like spiders on my bed
Or falling down upon my head.
Spiders in the yard I find,
But on the outside I don’t mind.
Let them hunt and eat the bugs,
Just don’t come in and walk on rugs.
All these spiders have their place
As long as it’s not in my face.
Inside I say, oh no, oh no!
Outside is where you need to go.
One exception to this rule
Are spiders as a searching tool.
Inside my computer I don’t care
If spiders run just everywhere.
Googlebots crawl twice as fast,
Searching pages new and past.
Let them peek at all the code
And make my websites their abode.
Let the spiders check my sites,
Then tell Google they’re all right.
Spider over every page,
Tell Google that they’re all the rage!
Rank my sites the very best,
And leave behind all the rest!
Chicks & Peafowl & Frogs & Bats
It’s been another hot day on the farm, and high time to get the bigger chicks out of their brooder box and into a “big chicken” pen.
They weren’t too sure what to make of such a big wilderness to explore, and didn’t want to come out of the cage at first. The Farmer walked up behind them and shook the cage a little to encourage them to go out.
Once The Farmer moved out of the way, a couple of the peahens decided to come up on the other side of the fence and check out the small fowl. That gave the little ones the needed incentive to move. I’m sure those peahens looked gigantic to them!
Besides, they were thirsty, and I had put out a fresh jug of water for them.
This evening when I went out and checked on them, they were running around in the tall weeds at one end of the pen, playing hide and seek. I stayed a while to watch them flitting about, then walked down into the bottom pasture to enjoy the fireflies fairy twinkles for a while.
From there I wandered on over to the pond and listened to the frog chorus. I got a surprise bonus, and watched a fancy aerial display from several bats.
They were munching up some of the bugs flying above the pond. It was too dark for the camera to focus on them zipping around down close to the pond, so I had to catch them up in the sky. Listen close and you can hear the frog chorus, with a short solo from our peacock.
Summer nights may be hot, but they’re still pretty cool.