Spiderbloggers

Fall is here. We have had a couple good frosts now. The air is crisp and gossamer fills the air. We have exceeded our average annual rainfall by 7 inches so far this year. It will either be a very wet winter or a very dry one. I thought I would post a couple of pictures of my yard this fall. Since this is where all my spider watching takes place. Right now the large orb weavers are abundant and the baby theridulas are tucked away under lower curled leaves throughout the yard waiting for winter. I brought in my houseplants for the winter and along with them an abundance of spiders. I have several Pelegrina proterva jumper spiders and a large Phiddipus audax. I also have several small six-spotted orb weavers, Araneus displicata. I have carried the orbweavers outside since they do not tend to adapt well to the house, the jumpers have made themselves at home though. The walls and ceilings are dotted with little dark jumpers. My large Phiddipus audax seems to be attracted to the sunny south kitchen window, which is where my venus fly trap resides. I hope he stays away from that plant!

Here is my front yard right now, this picture was taken from the east.


This is a picture of the trees across the road from my house. They are so bright it almost hurts my eyes.

Hi Nikki,

I am currently in Albuquerque, heading for Texas tomorrtow. So images of fall are familair in a way they would never be at home. The trou8ble is I have little easy internet access. Tomorrow I go to Texas where I saw y first Phidippus audax. I have high hopes of another one tomorrow. Here in NM, lots of people seem to be seeing tarantuals wandering, but I haven't. I have seen some burrows.

Thank you for all the photos. It looks lovely there. My research is going extremely well, and I will talk about that when I get back. I am missing my spiders, but have seen some beautiful ones here in the US.

Today it got up to 50F, it feels so nice and springlike. There were lots of small wolf spiders running about all over the place! I think they are Pardosa genus, but I am not sure about the species. I was so excited to see our first spiders running about on the ground. It is supposed to be even warmer this weekend.

I am so pleased for you! I am also really looking forward to your spider stories. Photos. Anything.

Do you have horny lizards? Phrynosoma spp? Or know anything about them? Don't worry if you don't. I've just read a really interesting reference to them which I want to find out more about.

Our spider season is starting to finish. I have lots of photos to post as soon as I get a chance. But so much is happening I am outside for hours every night. The backlog on processing the photos is huge!

Spring is here! Although we have had our share of rain, the flowers are starting to come up and on sunny days the temperature actually feels warm! Ahhh!!!! I planted some carrots, radishes and spinach. Today I saw a Philodromus rufus on our trash dumpster, the first crab spider of the season!

We got to hear the baby's heartbeat last friday. It was awesome!

No, we don't have any horny lizards here in the Midwest but they do live in the more western states. They are pretty amazing. I believe they eat only ants and squirt blood from their eyes to evade predators. (Sure would shock me into dropping one.)

I am so pleased to hear your excitement at hearing the baby's heartbeat. Isn't it extraordinary? I think the moment that our daughter emerged with all the fingers and toes, each with the little wrinkles in the right place - was the most awesome moment of my life. Nothing else goes close.

First crab spider - spring has sprung! Yes!

We are all ready for your reports - hominid and arachnid.

I went for a walk today and found an immature Eustala anastera putting up a web. I have also had many little wolf spiders scurrying across our floor the last few days. I have now seen several crab spiders ballooning off the tops of the young trees I planted last year. I have raked the leaves out of many of the flower beds however the moles and voles have done a number on my plants. Seems I will be replacing a lot of them this year. Of course, why complain, that is what I love doing anyway.

Ah, spring. All the signs of the wakening arachnids, among all the other life. I must admit that one of the pure joys of gardening is observing all the miniature life which is stirred up in the process.

Do you know your other invertebrates very well? I want to, but I am pretty weak on them. As we go into autumn, we are all ready for your reports from the American season!

I know my other invertebrates very well. I love life in miniature! And it is really starting to hop around here! We have had many days in the 80s already, although most nights still get down right chilly. I have seen many many more species of spiders now. Including an adult wolf spider and Phiddipus audax and Platycryptus undatus jumper spiders. My orb weaving Larinoides cornatus are even constructing their webs. I saw the first butterfly of the season last week and have seen 4 more since. The honeybees and bumblebees are busy at work and the yard if absolutely full of wild flowers. (I do not have a sod lawn I prefer the more wildlife friendly "weed" yard).

I have been cleaning out flower beds and pruning rose bushes nearly every day! I have started many seeds indoors that I will be transplanting into larger pots next week. I will set them out in the garden around the middle of may. Setting them out before truly hot weather will allow the pest insects to get control of them before they get strong in the sunshine. Since I don't use any pesticides or herbicides I use the weather to its full advantage.

It all sounds wonderful! I become more and more absorbed by the world in miniature, especially as it reveals itself through my lens. I have a few hundred photos to process, all macro, and add some to this blog. We seem to be experiencing spring as well. The birds and plants are really confused by our very long spell of warm days - were breaking all records. So the wattles (acacia) are flowering and some of the birds seem to be nesting. I have about 10 lots of spider hatchlings around the house at the moment - blackhouse (Badumna) and common house (Achaearanea).

We have been doing the vegie garden beds ready for winter. Our winters used to consist of the occasional frost, but we didn't even have that last year - so MUCH milder than yours. We emptied two compost heaps onto the garden and found 12 avocado pips which had sprouted, so I've planted all of them out in pots. I checked the beds for wolf spider burrows and found two, so they got their little fences and are now arachnid sacred territory. The gardening goes around them.

I agree totally about the pesticides and herbicides. We've also planted green manure crops in the beds which won't have winter vegies in them. Plus the neverending pruning of the pelargoniums. The mini-wildlife which I encounter while gardenign makes it an endless treasure hunt of surprises.