{"id":1203,"date":"2018-07-20T21:27:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-21T02:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/gazette\/2018\/07\/20\/180720_spiders\/"},"modified":"2022-03-06T21:43:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T03:43:06","slug":"180720_spiders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2018\/07\/20\/180720_spiders\/","title":{"rendered":"Web Weaving Weirdos"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ll fight a bear, but I don’t like spiders. I’m not a fan of those.<\/em>
\n  — J. J. Watt<\/p>\n

I’m an unabashed arachnophobe. Spiders are not just creepy; they’re intentionally malevolent. God created spiders because snakes weren’t sufficient to remind us that we live in a fallen world. Spiders are the only creatures that have the capacity to make me hurt myself while attempting to avoid even the most benign encounter. <\/p>\n

Given those facts, it amazes me that I’m posting this. You should be impressed.<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, we had at least five yellow garden spiders<\/a> (Argiope aurantia<\/em>) nesting in our back yard landscape. [Note: I have previously — and erroneously — referred<\/a> to these spiders as orb weavers.] [Additional note: They are<\/i> in the family of orb weavers, so I was wrong when I thought I was wrong. Sort of.] They ranged in size from about a quarter inch in body length up to more than an inch…and that doesn’t include their devastatingly creepy legs. Some of them had future meals trapped in their webs.<\/p>\n

\"Yellow<\/p>\n

Several of them were in the process of building their webs, and I tamped down my revulsion in order to video what I grudgingly came to appreciate as an amazing natural phenomenon. I filmed a couple of spiders during this process and compiled the following short (~3 minutes) movie. I hope you’ll find it as fascinating as I did.<\/p>\n