Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: orb weaver

One day in September of 2012, I found a baby orb weaver spider on my front porch. Over the next year, I watched this baby get her first meal, survive a freezing winter, grow to adulthood, find a mate, make an egg sac, and finally, I saw her crawl slowly away under a bush to die. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with this beautiful Cat-Faced Orb-Weaver, and I cried my eyes out when she died. Maybe just a spider to most, she was my little friend, and I missed her terribly in the months that followed. In fact, revisiting her pictures now pulls hard on my heart strings. I feel like I should be embarrassed that I feel sad as I look at all the pictures I took. How can a person become attached to a spider? I did though, and I feel pretty darn lucky that I got to know a spider well enough to cry over its death. This is a picture of Roscoe's children, hatching out of the egg sac she made and protected until she was too weak to do so. Seeing all of these kids brings a tear to my eye. I wished that some of them would have stayed around, but they all left after a few days. What a great experience it was to know my friend Roscoe. :) If you'd like to see Rocoe's story in pictures and tales, please visit her album here My Friend Roscoe

1 picture above in a note :) This pretty lady arrived on our porch back in mid-October and I saw that she was a Cat-Faced Orb-Weaver like Roscoe, except darker in coloring. She was also quite a bit smaller, so I wasn't sure what her life expectancy was. Would she live until spring, grow larger and then make an egg sac? I didn't know, but I certainly enjoyed her company. Unlike Roscoe, she didn't stay in one spot and tried out several locations before settling on a place just above our doorway, tucked up against the ceiling. One of her spots was especially cool because she was able to make a very large orb-web in one corner of the porch, and she caught a huge number of wasps and flies there. I'm not sure why she moved from that spot, but maybe there was too much air current. A couple of weeks ago I saw her dabbing silk on one spot and I thought to myself, "I think she's making an egg sac!" That night I took another peek and found her proudly displaying her great masterpiece for all to see! The size of her egg sac is about half the size of Roscoe's, which makes sense, since this spider was much smaller. The picture you see above was taken when I saw her egg sac for the first time! :) A week passed, and then a few more days, and she never moved far enough away that she couldn't have one of her feet touching her egg sac. However, last night I looked up to see how she was doing, and discovered that she had left. I looked around to see if I could find her, but she'd already made her last journey to a dark corner to have her final rest. Even though I didn't know this spider very long, I enjoyed her company and loved her pretty coloring. However, just like Roscoe, this spider left me a great treasure to watch over until springtime, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to share pictures of the babies hatching...and maybe one of them will choose to stay! :) (By the way, I've put her other picture as an inset for you to see! :)

MANY, MANY pictures above to show Roscoe from when I first met her until today... I checked on Roscoe last night and this morning, and she was near her egg sac each time. This afternoon, she was further out, legs held closely to her body, sitting quietly (see the inset image above). Then, at about 4pm, I let the dogs out and Roscoe was gone. I looked everywhere on the walls but she wasn't there. Just before I went back into the house, I thought about what she would do if she needed to crawl to a dark place to die. I looked down and checked the cement...and there she was. I could barely see her because she was so perfectly camouflaged with the colors of the stone, but I noticed something moving, which gave her away. Making her way slowly over the ground, she was just about to the edge of the porch. It was amazing that I spotted her before she was gone forever. I dashed into the house and back out, and she'd gone to the edge and crawled off the side, so I went around to the front in the garden and I saw her making her way to the edge of the cement and wanting to crawl down. She hung there for a moment, and that's when I took this picture. She wanted to go down but she had no more silk to lower herself, so after a few seconds she dropped into the leaves below and sat for a moment. I reached over and gently petted her soft, velvety abdomen, the only time I've ever touched her, and I said goodbye to my friend. After I left, I checked once more, and she had crawled out of sight. Rest in peace, dear Roscoe.

3 more pictures above ! :) Last night I went to let the dogs out before watching our evening show and going to bed. As I always do, I looked up to the left side of our doorway where Roscoe, my wonderful orb weaver friend lives. Exclaiming in surprise, I burst out, "OH ROSCOE!!! YOU'RE MAKING AN EGG SAC!!!!" I charged upstairs to yell excitedly to Steve, "ROSCOE MADE HER EGG SAC!!!!!!" and before he could barely utter a surprised, "WOW!!", I zoomed back downstairs to continue watching her work, totally transfixed. Moving slowly all over her enormous egg sac, Roscoe dabbed strands of sticky silk. "Wow...you must have been working on this all day," I murmured to her affectionately. "It's so beautiful and HUGE!!" In fact, her egg sac is larger than she is, and I also noticed two more things. Roscoe was so skinny now--instead of being huge and plump, she was now empty of all the eggs that had been growing inside her bloated abdomen. And I also saw how exhausted she was. "My dear, dear girl," I cooed softly to her. "What a masterpiece you have made." She moved so slowly, dabbing and dabbing more silk to finish her grand achievement. I got my camera and flash and took a few pictures, but I waited until midnight to get the picture here so that I could make it my Picture of the Day. The following image (both insets) were taken before midnight, while she was still finishing the last touches of her egg sac. One of the insets shows her dabbing silk onto her sac, which was very interesting to watch. I have known Roscoe for over a year now, from when she was barely a quarter inch in size, and I've watched her go through hibernation (brumation) and grow into a magnificent, beautiful lady, with an abdomen of almost 1" in diameter! I know that these spiders only live for one season, and I was feeling very sad because it looked as if she wouldn't be producing eggs, though I saw two different suitors visit the area. As September turned to October, and then to November, I watched her with quiet worry. My concern was unfounded, because she has just finished her gift to me...hundreds of unborn Roscoe babies who I will adore as much as I have adored her. I know that Roscoe's days are now truly numbered. She could live another day or maybe as much as a month...but I expect she will die within a week. I will miss her terribly, but I will be there to take pictures of her babies and maybe some of them will stay, just like Charlotte's children!! :) I will keep you informed as the days pass... Charlotte's Web is a children's novel by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published in 1952 by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur (such as "Some Pig") in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live. Wikipedia: Charlotte's Web Elwyn Brooks "E. B." White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985), was an American writer. He was a contributor to The New Yorker magazine and a co-author of the English language style guide, The Elements of Style, which is commonly known as "Strunk & White". He also wrote books for children, including Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan. Charlotte's Web was voted the top children's novel in a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers, not for the first time. Wikipedia: E.B. White Explored on November 13, 2013. Highest placement, page 9.

2 images above in notes (same as on main picture) This picture shows Roscoe as she was still working on her egg sac. She must have started it many hours before, as it's larger than she is and she was completely exhausted from her efforts. Isn't she amazing?! I think she's just wonderful and I feel so blessed that I got to spend more than a whole year getting to know her. Would you like to watch a video which shows the life cycle of the orb weaver spider? There is an awesome guy over on YouTube named Bob McAndrews, better known as "Bob The Spider Hunter" , and he made a wonderful video which shows the life cycle of a species related to this spider. He is a fine instructor and, like me, strives to both educate and entertain, with the hopes to illuminate the beauty and gentle nature of spiders. Before you watch this video, please be warned: Bob allows the starring spider to crawl on his hands, so if this will make you run screaming into the night, you may want to prepare yourself! Please try to watch it though, it's very fascinating, educational and will show you that these beautiful spiders are not to be feared. :) Orb Weaver: Cycle of Life

I took a picture of our darling girl with a snack this morning, and I'm very happy to say that it appears that she'll be hanging around! It's been several days now and Portia has been catching lots of insects and her web is in a good place where it's not too windy but there's plenty of food sources coming by. I'm so happy, it will be such fun to watch her grow!! She's about 1" in size right now and I believe she'll grow to be 2" at least by the time she's full grown! In fact, if she's the same kind that I've seen in a web once years ago, she could have a diameter of 5" when full grown!! OH I HOPE SO!!! AWESOME!!!! (Just so we're CLEAR: it would NOT be awesome to have this spider crawling on me!!! But as long as she's in her web...AWESOME!!! :D :D :D)

WE HAVE WINNERS FOR THE SPIDER NAME CONTEST!!! Thank you all for your comments, favorites and to all of you who tossed a name (or more) into the hat! You guys really know how to make my day!! 19 people submitted entries: jofolo: Othello • Stephanie Calhoun: Odessa • JimbobEdsel: Hubert G. Glowerby • koaxial: Shelob • Nick Stewart: The Bard • Old Owl: Boris • Christina Port: The Golden Spinner • Levina de Ruijter: Daddy Long Legs • Dave Hilditch: Boris • tiabunna: Sir Walter • philanker2012: George Clooney • Angela Healey: George, Fred, Sarah • James E410: Incy Wincy • Trevor Grant: Fabulous Pharaoh • Cathlon: Octivia Goldbottom • Shuttering Yukon: Oh Gross (She is bad and evil and I am going to wish her into the corn field!) • Fran Wylie: Porsche, Camero • Pam J: Miss Rainbow Ballerina Silk Stockings of Briens-Manor • Deborah Lynn: Juliet The names I picked were "Porche", from Fran Wylie (which I changed the spelling to Portia), Odessa from Stephanie Calhoun, and Goldbottom from Cathlon! I also want to give a special honorable mention to Pam J for her extravagant and awesome "Miss Rainbow Ballerina Silk Stockings of Briens-Manor", and of course, a huge round of applause to all of you for the super names--it was REALLY HARD TO PICK and I loved them all!!!

3 pictures in notes above! :) I went outside this morning to water my garden and as I trotted down the few stairs from our porch, I glanced at the walls to see if there were any critters to investigate. I was looking at the wall where our Rhodedendron bush grows and suddenly I saw a shape that grabbed my attention...could it be?!! NO WAY!!! *Janet bounces up and down in excitement* A GOLDEN ORBWEAVER SPIDER!!!! AT THE HOUSE!!! YES!!!!!!! I am crazy about these spiders and yet I have had very little luck finding them on our property. I did find one two summers ago when I was using my point and shoot camera, but I have always wanted to take a picture with my new camera. Last year I looked and looked with no luck. This year, I've been searching but didn't find any either. But it appears that I have a new friend who's found ME!!! HOORAY!!! I'm hoping this spider will stay here for a while, and in case it does, I think it should have a NAME!! This is where YOU come in!! SPIDER NAMING CONTEST!!! (She's a girl!) Last September when I found my baby Cat-Faced Orbweaver spider on our porch, I had a naming contest! It was a lot of fun to choose Roscoe Frank McCrawlerson from everyone's names, and I thought I have another naming contest for this spider! (I found out that she is a female after asking at Bugguide.com!) If you have a nice name, put it in a comment, and after a few days I'll pick the winner! You can choose a name with one name or if you like, you can come up with a first, a middle, and a last name! However, it's possible that I might take just a part of that name for the winning name--let's find out! LET THE BEST NAME(S) WIN!!! William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Wikipedia: William Shakespeare Explored on July 22, 2012. Highest placement, page 2 (#44).

I am so excited about this picture! I absolutely LOVE these spiders (even though they scare me to death) but I had never seen one on our property before. I've been searching for them in our meadow all summer without luck. Yesterday, while my husband and I were picking blackberries, I looked around for any telltale webs, and to my surprise, LOOK AT WHO I FOUND! HOORAY!!!! This image was taken on my property in August, 2011.

Best seen at full size!

You may have noticed that I have a growing fascination with spiders. Who in their right mind would keep a Black Widow spider captive for several weeks just to observe it?! :D I find spiders totally fascinating and I love taking pictures of them because they are so cool looking! The other evening I was looking around on the walls on our porch while the dogs were out doing their business, and I noticed something tiny that seemed like it might be a tiny spider. Peering closer, I saw that it was a tiny orb weaver spider that had strung a web next to the front door! I grabbed the camera and took some shots without the flash, and this picture is one that I think turned out really neat. The glow from our porch light gave the spider a yellow color and the background colors give this image a kind of dreamy quality. I really like that I got a shallow depth of field which included its eyes and parts of its legs too, along with some strands of glimmering web to give just enough information to show the story. Once I got a look on my computer, I recognized with delight that this tiny spider is a baby garden orb weaver, which will grow in size from its current body size of 1/8" to a body size of about 3/4"!! I am certain because I know of several adults that I love to visit every few days and this baby is a miniature version!. HELP ME PICK A NAME!! :D If this baby likes living in its current location, I will get to watch it grow up, and because I'll be seeing it every day, I think it's only right to give it a proper name! :D I thought maybe you guys might have a suggestion or two, so please feel free to list a name that you like, and I'll make a decision which name wins! :) (By the way, I have no clue about gender, but I don't care...I would be happy to choose any good name, so give me your best ideas! :D

I thought it would be really fun to compare Roscoe to a dime, so I stuck one to the wall right next to her and took a picture! (I moved the dime over just a bit and made the background black) I just love this picture because it really shows how small and cute this little girl is! :D

Today I went for a photo walk up on top of our ridge line and on the way back, I decided to wander through a little grassy area. Suddenly I realized I was walking through a web at face level, and though I was a little bit alarmed, I figured it was just a little wispy web. NOT! The strands were so strong that they stretched as I pushed my way through...a huge, sticky web was all over my face and glasses and the front of my shirt and...I TOTALLY LOST IT!! I was so sure there was a huge spider racing around in my hair or on my back, it was all I could do to not scream my head off for the next hour! I am usually very calm about critters....but when I get sticky spider webs all over my FACE, I come up with a brand new vocabulary that would make a sailor blush! :D After I forced myself to calm down and stop freaking out, I carefully pulled the webs off my face and glasses, my clothes, and to my HUGE RELIEF, there was no spider on me. *pant pant pant* I was still shaking ten minutes later, and yet I was upset that I missed the opportunity to probably photograph a super cool spider it its web! Isn't that silly?!! I haven't been that scared in a VERY long time over a natural situation! By the way, the lovely spider in THIS web is only about 1/2" in diameter!! More below! :) When Steve and I went to Mill Creek Falls, near Prospect, Oregon, we found many things to photograph there, including spiders and their magnificent webs! We found so manyf perfect orb webs with spiders sitting in the center that we finally gave up taking pictures of them after half a dozen different ones! :D

[best appreciated at full size against black] I think spiders are very cool! However, I can remember a time as a child when any spider terrified me. As I got older, I learned that spiders are actually more afraid of us than we are of them! Once I discovered that, I stopped being afraid and instead became curious but respectful. The only spiders I truly don't like are daddy long legs, which totally creep me out. Yet, I don't mind them in the house because they eat the insects that find their way in. I was out in our large meadow looking for new flowers when I noticed the quick movement of a spider's web being disturbed when I accidentally brushed a strand. Oh boy!! Positioning myself with the sun at my back, I saw through my view finder that this was a real beauty!! Yet, I wasn't prepared for exactly how lovely it was until I saw it on my computer! It's become important that I know the name of the plants and animals that I photograph, so when I wasn't able to identify this species, I went over to Spiders .us and asked them for help. Within a day I had my answer, with a big thank you to Eric, one of the admins there! The Striped Orb Weaver is part of the Aranneidae family, which is the most common type of spider which builds spiral or wheel-shaped webs. They can be found in meadows, forests and gardens, and range in size from very small, like this one, which measures only about 1/2" including his legs, to at least 5" in diameter or more. There are more than 10,000 species wordwide. Orb weavers are harmless to humans, rarely bite, and are non-aggressive. If you would like to know more about orb weaver spiders, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Orb Weaver Spider To find out about identifying spiders in the United States, with pictures and information, I found a helpful chart here: Spider Identification Chart I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! Janet's profile (sfhipchick) This image was taken in April, 2012.

I found this spider as I was exploring our hillside one day. I almost ran into the web, and actually brushed a strand which made this spider jiggle and got my attention. This tiny fellow is only about 1/4" in length! Isn't he cute?! :D

On the way out to Brookings, Oregon, we stopped for a few minutes at a redwood park. We realized we needed more time to get the pictures we wanted so we left after about 20 minutes. However, I did get a few pictures while I was there, including this beautiful orb weaver, which Steve spotted for me!

Oh, how I love living in the middle of such a wild place! Our home sits on 26 acres and all around us are miles of fields, woods, hills and wild lands. It's a dream come true for me, as I've always wanted to live close to nature! In fact, we've had plenty of wildlife INSIDE our house, including wayward ground squirrels, birds, mice, voles, crickets, flies, ladybugs, a praying mantis, many other insects and arthopods,,, and plenty of spiders too. Happily, most of the critters don't find their way inside! I found this beautiful tiny orb weaver spider tending an egg sac on the wall outside our front door. She was only about 1/3" in diameter (including legs), and stood guard over her egg sac day in and day out. Eventually the babies hatched and she protected them for the several days they were there. I watched over the course of a few days as they eventually drifted away to find a life in the big wide world! I thought that would be it, but I was wrong! She made ANOTHER egg sac, and a couple of weeks later, another bunch of babies hatched and I got to see the sweet little guys crawling around until they too, left for their Great Adventure. Surely this was it, right? NO! Mama Spider made two more egg sacs over the next month and then, after the last one had hatched, I looked one day and both the babies and Mama were gone. It's kind of funny to feel wistful over a little spider, but I enjoyed checking in on her every day when I went outside. I expect she's died now after completing her life's mission, but she can feel proud that she raised four hatches of baby spiders and protected all of them faithfully as any mother would do! Hooray for tiny spiders! :)

Thanks to all of you who helped come up with some cute names! Here they are in alphabetical order: Biscuit • Charlotte • Crawly McCrawlerson • Downspider • Eensie-Weensy • Flo • Frank • George • Gold Man • Golden Spider • Goldie • Goldie Doorsie • Goldy Spidy • Joe • Neatto Netto • Nitty Gritty Netto-Grosso • Roscoe • Roxie • Silence • Wacky Spidy • Wonder Webmaker I loved them all, but after hours of careful consideration, our darling doorway spider has now been named... Roscoe Frank McCrawlerson!! Hooray!!! :D Honorable mentions to: Biscuit: can't choose this because this is one of my parrot's nicknames! Charlotte: I love this name but this spider will grow up to look very different than the Charlotte we all know and love ...this one will have prickly hair all over its legs, and that's not very lady-like, is it?! :D (BTW, Charlotte's Web was one of my favorite books as a kid and I loved both movies!) Flo: I like this very much, but since my first two favorites were male names, our little spider might be confused having both boy and girl names! :D George: can't pick this because this is the name we call all the Blue-Belly Lizards we see running around! :D Gold names: They are all so nice but you'll see that in proper lighting, this spider does not look golden, though he or she IS quite a golden treasure to me! :) Joe: LOL, Joe, you may not name a spider after yourself! :D Bad Joe! Go stand in the corner! :D Roxie: I love this name but you also picked my favorite name and it's important to share! :D By the way, I uploaded another picture of Roscoe showing his size compared to a dime...I think you'll all be pretty amazed how tiny he is!!