spider

Hello Spidey

| cjlevinson

Life is short;
You must spin
A web of wonder
For the whole world to see

This guest was waiting for me when I arrived home the other day. It had made a web for itself near my washing line. Glad I didn’t walk into it.

It’s an Argiope keyserlingi, or a St Andrew’s Cross spider. They’re known for the distinctive decorations on their webs, usually a zig-zag pattern forming an X in the middle of the web.

The pattern, or stabilimentum, is thought to be a warning to birds and similar predators to stay away. It also attracts insects as it reflects ultra-violet light.

It’s one of the prettier spiders I’ve seen. And its bite is mostly harmless and non toxic to humans too which is good to know.

 

Photos and haiqua © CJ Levinson 2015

Spider Moon

| cjlevinson

Spider Moon

In the dark of night
A spider waits patiently
For its prey to come

This spider has taken up residence on our back veranda for the last couple of weeks. I’m usually a bit squeamish about spiders and would have tried to shoo it away by now but I’ve left it alone as it’s not hurting anyone and there have been quite a few less mosquitos and insects around since it has made itself at home.

It was a lovely big moon last night and as I was photographing it, I noticed the spider was almost in my line of sight so I quickly lined it up with the moon to take a shot. It was tricky as there was a very strong wind and the web was dancing around, so catching the spider lined up against the moon was difficult, particularly as I was using a telephoto lens. This one came out quite well though and I really like it.

It reminds me a little of that scene in Tim Burton’s Batman, where the Batwing appears against the moon. Maybe if he’d made a Spider-Man film instead we’d have seen something like this in it.

Spider Moon in Black and White

Spider Moon in black and white

Photos and haiku © CJ Levinson 2014