A Spidey Snack

It was SO windy today, which left me feeling a little challenged in the photography department... Wiggly flowers, jittery bugs, constantly moving birds, a cursing photographer... And then I found the spiders (sorry about the creepy crawly factor).

First, I spotted a giant Wolf Spider female dragging an egg sack that was the size of a marble. The white of the egg sack caught my eye as it bobbled across the wood chips. (Pre-blip I may have squished it or at the very least avoided it... post-blip I stalked her for an image. I even crawled around with her to get a better angle.) After she ducked into her hide, I spotted this Bold Jumping Spider. Furry, medium sized (1/4" or 7mm), contrasty coloring - I decide that he could make a decent image. So I wiggled inbetween the plants for a better vantage point, focused and WHOA he's got something in his mouth! Lucky for me, as it makes a more interesting blip and it kept him from jumping away. Infact, he just turned and turned and studied me. This allowed me to get all kinds of angles and I thought this one was the most interesting. Just look at those metallic chelicera (fang bases). Unfortunately for the smaller crab spider the other end of the metallic green is where the fangs are... (Fun fact: The jumping spiders use that metallic chelicera in courtship displays. Pretty hot, huh?) ;)

Even hotter, furrier and (to some) grosser...

I'll go for something more universally appealing tomorrow but, for today, I just couldn't pass over this spider-eating-spider moment.