I have a GREAT crop of.......

[Just-Moxie]

4 of the spiders came back. 1 parked herself on the bottom corner of the potting shed. I found the other 3 on the east side of the house. Opposite of the Back 40 fence line I had relocated them too. I also found 2 new egg sacks.

 

[Just-Moxie]

Awww gee......I am down to 3 garden spiders. The 2 on the potting shed, and one just catty corner on the house siding. No dead bodies either. I suspect, either the frogs ate them, or the lizards finally got big enough to eat them.

 

[Just-Moxie]

The time has come to say good bye to this years crop of garden spiders.

I DID locate #4, the one I put on the rose bush. I am beginning to think they don't like roses. I found her WAAAAY out back, all set up by the burn pile. all fat and loaded again with eggs. I moved her to the very back. A burn pile is not a safe place to put an egg sack.

Oh, and boy do they travel. I am really starting to believe they have great eyesight. Seeing long distances well enough to travel 1/2 an acre to set up somewhere else.

The other 3 remaining.....one is in the peak of the roof of the potting shed. She is fine there. The other 2, had relocated themselves right back to their own prior locations. I had to move them, as my collection of herbs was being taken to someone else. I put the 3 ladies in the back, behind the portable storage building. I had seen 2 recently laid egg sacks back there. I check on the the next morning, and the ladies have disappeared. I suspect they are under the building. Dark and lots of bugs there. The chickens also loved to forage under that building.

So, I will look for any garden spider egg sacks for next spring, when I get moved to Kansas City. Or....maybe I will take some with me

 

[Just-Moxie]

L.I.B. The spider I relocated away from the burn pile.....I found her right back in her spot today. Same spot she had previously.
The spider I found originally over the animal burrow...relocated 2x.....I found her right back over the burrow.
Now, said resident of the burrow...turned out to be an armadillo. I found the armadillo belly up and dead yesterday morning. Looked like a dog got it.
Well, that spider built her nest right over that burrow. Almost blocking it.
One of the local cats has been going under there too. She's gonna have to rebuild it tomorrow.

 

[thistlebloom]

L.I.B. The spider I relocated away from the burn pile.....I found her right back in her spot today. Same spot she had previously.
The spider I found originally over the animal burrow...relocated 2x.....I found her right back over the burrow.
Now, said resident of the burrow...turned out to be an armadillo. I found the armadillo belly up and dead yesterday morning. Looked like a dog got it.
Well, that spider built her nest right over that burrow. Almost blocking it.
One of the local cats has been going under there too. She's gonna have to rebuild it tomorrow.

You sure are very observant Moxie, it's interesting that spiders have a preference for a specific location.
How do you tell them apart?

 

[Just-Moxie]

You sure are very observant Moxie, it's interesting that spiders have a preference for a specific location.
How do you tell them apart?

Mainly by their preferences. They can be quite stubborn with their likes and dislikes. And the distance they travel to stay in a preferred spot. The one on the burn pile, for instance...I had put her on the rose bush. I had relocated her to the rose bush from another location, as the dh was weed trimming that day. Well, she didn't like the rosebush, but the burn pile was in clear view of the rb, Although about 100' away.

I relocated her from the burn pile.....because it will be set alight eventually. I put her behind the shed building. NOT in plain sight of the burn pile.

Yesterday.....I found her in the exact same spot. Burn pile.

 

[flowerbug]

Mainly by their preferences. They can be quite stubborn with their likes and dislikes. And the distance they travel to stay in a preferred spot. The one on the burn pile, for instance...I had put her on the rose bush. I had relocated her to the rose bush from another location, as the dh was weed trimming that day. Well, she didn't like the rosebush, but the burn pile was in clear view of the rb, Although about 100' away.

I relocated her from the burn pile.....because it will be set alight eventually. I put her behind the shed building. NOT in plain sight of the burn pile.

Yesterday.....I found her in the exact same spot. Burn pile.

i wonder how much of it has to do with where they first got large enough to be able to see where they are at, they would be acclimated to the air currents, vibrations, light, smells, etc. of that spot. maybe very related to how fish know which stream they were born/hatched in and can migrate the whole distance from the ocean to a tiny stream... we just don't know as much as we should about this world we share and i sure wish we did...

 

[Just-Moxie]

The more I watch and observe the creatures around me, the more fascinating they become. I learned alot watching my little flock of chickens, as well as the snakes who live here.
As far as the spiders are concerned, maybe pheromones? Or the warmth of the sun. But still, to find the exact same spots I removed them from. And I had put them out of the line of sight from their previous positions.

 

[digitS']

I think that I can get back into birdwatching fairly easily. It takes some travel and exploring different environments. The binoculars that I "borrowed" from Dad nearly 50 years ago are just dandy for the purpose - wide angle. They are supposed to be special for sporting events but I find that you shouldn't try to zero in on most birds. They are too active.

My Roger Tory Peterson guide could probably use an upgrade. Can you believe it?! Studies of bird genetics has led to new classification, sometimes. Relationships weren't all what they had seemed to be.

Now, if I could just recognize the difference between a Sharp-shinned hawk and a Cooper's hawk. The small guys that Lady Bird Johnson called Little Brown Jobs (LBJ's), those will often be a mystery. What the heck, that's life!

Steve