Saturday, April 4, 2015

epic battle


As I mentioned, last Tuesday dawned foggy and drippy. At the far end of the barn, a spider had built a large web and it was festooned with pearls.



Later in the day I noticed that she had removed the web and this morning, while I was out surveying the Big Back Yard, I saw she had rebuilt her web in the same spot. When I got closer, this is what I saw.


I witnessed an epic battle between a wasp and a spider. A wasp was caught in the web and while the spider was trying valiantly to secure it, the wasp was trying desperately to sting the spider while struggling to get free. The wasp eventually broke free and flew over to the dewberry to rest and clean bits of sticky web from it's legs and antennae.


The spider climbed back up in the header of the barn door to wait for another chance at dinner.






15 comments:

  1. Epic indeed! Should you ever decide you abandon your beautiful glass work, you can become a photographer for National Geographic.
    What were the pearls? Dew drops?

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  2. Some amazing drama and surprisingly it goes on every day!

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  3. That bejeweled web was absolutely gorgeous. I can never get a good picture of one when I see it.
    All these epic battles going on in our world and we hardly ever notice.

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  4. Your dew crystal web is beautiful. Is that an orb spider? I cannot tel from the underside. For years we had one in the crook of our front deck. We called her Charlotte.

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  5. amazing how hard they must work to eat!

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  6. That spider's relative lived here last year. reminds me of a marshmallow and a post I deleted since it grossed people out.

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  7. That is a big spider. I like the closeup.

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  8. I was hoping the spider would win. I admire spiders, but wasps are a pain in the ---well, where ever they sting you.

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  9. I love the web (the pearled one and the rebuilt). Both the spider and the wasps look beautiful through your lens (I wouldn't care for the latter face to face, since I'm allergic). I bet it was exciting to watch and wait for nature to take her course.

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  10. Gorgeous web! And I love that you caught that epic battle - cool!

    P.S. The prove you're not a robot has lost its mind - I had to select all the pictures of beer from a group of pictures!

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  11. Just amazing "pearls" on that web. Great pictures!

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  12. Beautiful pics of the web! I imagine that wasp would have been too much dinner for that spider, anyway.

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  13. What an amazing encounter, quite a determined spider!

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