Coastal Journal: Spider's activity signals sew long to summer

Most folks who don't like spiders change their tune when they run into a big yellow and black garden spider perched in the center of a web in their garden.

Even though this brightly colored large spider may look more scary than most, folks can't help but be fascinated by her eerie beauty and her interesting web with its prominent white zigzag stitch down the middle.

It doesn't take long for most people to realize that this spider, though oversize, is no more poisonous or aggressive than most spiders. Her interest is in capturing insects in that unusual web of hers. Because of her artistic flourish, she is often called a sewing machine or writing spider, though her real name is black and yellow argiope.

Mike Robertson, who lives off South Rosemont Road, has had one of the spiders in his yard recently. He described the web's center pattern as looking like a zipper.

Two months ago, Mary Kay and Don Nymberg discovered one of the spiders in a web between a pot of flowers on their deck and their den window. They spent two months watching the spider from their den, as she grew larger and larger.

"The web is so intricate and beautiful," Mary Kay said. "And she was so pretty.

"I don't like spiders," she added, "but I found this one very interesting."

Not only is the web intricate as Mary Kay said, but Robertson was interested to see that the web changed every day.

"One funny thing I noticed in my daily observations was that one day, her web was moved 2 feet forward from where it was the day before!" Robertson said. "I couldn't figure out how she had done it, and then I learned that they actually eat and reconstruct their webs on a daily basis!

"Wow, that's some creature."

Then recently, both Mary Kay's and Robertson's spiders were gone. Mary Kay discovered her spider had secured an egg sac on the frame of a window right next to her den window. Mary Kay knew what she was seeing, because the spider also uses her artistic spinning skills to create an egg sac that looks just like a brown paper bag, tied at the top by a string.

By disappearing, two spiders were doing what comes naturally. After the female lays her eggs, her life cycle is over and she dies soon thereafter. The eggs over-winter in the egg sac and hatch in spring.

A couple of years ago, I had one in my yard that went through the cycle. I even saw the much smaller male out in the corner of the nest waiting to come in and mate. I watched her grow plump with eggs and then I also found her egg case attached to the siding of my house.

Unlike Mary Kay's spider, mine came back to the web center for a little while but not for long. When my spider disappeared, I felt a little like Mary Kay did.

"I was so sad she was gone," Mary Kay said. "I never thought I'd be upset about a spider."

"You don't appreciate nature until you see something like that," Don Nymberg added. "Can you believe nature can do stuff like that?"

READERS' CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Hunting hawk A hawk, probably a Cooper's, has been hanging around Peter Dunthorn's Hilltop yard recently. One day, Dunthorn wrote, the hawk "flew in at lightning speed to terrorize the yard... 10 minutes later he comes back in the blink of an eye from the opposite direction and scoops up a poor sparrow and was gone in a flash. Amazing. First time I have ever seen him make a kill."

Feeder security Verna Brainard, also known as "Mother Nature," did not take her feeders in before Tropical Storm Hanna arrived. Instead, she just removed large baffles and feeder umbrellas and secured all seed feeders, hummingbird feeders and hanging birdhouses to their hooks with twist-ties, or tied them to their posts." Just about every feeder was crowded with birds all day!" Brainard said.

Photo ops Reese Lukei photographed a Cooper's hawk that was trapped in the Kramer Tire Warehouse in Norfolk. Lukei was able to trap the hawk, band it and release it.

- Connie Fulton snapped a photo of a long pale green caterpillar that fell from her oak tree. It looked a little like a cecropia moth caterpillar that metamorphoses into a giant silkworm moth.

-Dianne Haack sent photos of a gulf fritillary caterpillar and then one of the oddly shaped brown gulf fritillary chrysalises. The beautiful orange butterflies are not indigenous to this area but are being seen more and more frequently.

-Chris Mustard photographed a formidable-looking hickory hornworm that his father,Joe Mustard, found in his Point of Woods yard after Tropical Storm Hanna. These caterpillars metamorphose into big orange and yellow regal moths.

-Tom Brewster sent a photo of a shrimp, almost 5 inches long, that jumped into his boat at low tide near Thalia Island.

-Tysh Edwards has what she calls a "squashkin" growing in her Bay Colony yard. She thinks the big bright yellow fruit is a cross between a pumpkin and a yellow summer squash.

 Is this a squashkin growing in Tysh Edwards’ Bay Colony yard? (Tysh Edwards)

UPLOAD YOUR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS SNAPSHOTS

What surprises or puzzles have you come across in nature, or do you have a tidbit of local lore? Send e-mail to barrow1@cox.net. Include name, neighborhood and city. If you have injured wildlife, call the Virginia Beach SPCA, (757) 427-0070.