Sunday, September 10, 2006

Afternoon Snack

No, not my snack, but this praying mantis caught a very larger black fly for his snack. The black fly was as large as my thumb. And I thought it was kind of funny how the mantis turned to look at me when I took his picture.

This second picture was taken a couple minutes later and you can see that he's really loving his snack. I was just out pulling weeds in the back yard flower bed to spruce things up. While weeding I noticed this guy sitting in the branches of a bush and was really surprised to see this feast. As I stood there watching nature take it's course, I noticed two orb spiders had made huge webs in the same bush.

The spiders were a little harder to photograph because the way they had spun their webs placed them with their back side to me. I was able to position the camera and get this on from the front. This is the first time I've seen a Spiny Orb spider in the yard. I like the unusual pointy shaped body and the bright yellow, red, and black colors. This spider was actually quite small compared to the other orb spiders I've seen around the house. It was maybe the size of a quarter overall.

I wasn't able to get a shot of this spider from the front. It is interesting to see it from this view. It was a lot larger than the spiny orb spider. I know spiders are good for the garden and these are not poisonous, but I think this one is definitely creepy looking!

3 comments:

Angela said...

Amazing, the things that go on in your back yard!;-> Thanks for the cool pics..my kids were oohing and ahhhing for the next few minutes.

ang

Bezzie said...

When I saw the picture of the first spider, I thought maybe he got the mantis! Ha ha! Circle of life indeed!

Such pretty spiders! As long as they stay outside ;-)

elizabeth said...

I've always called the second spider a banana spider. Aren't they beautiful? Both of ours have gone for the summer, but I enjoyed watching them while they were here.