After getting my wits together, and a quick visit to Google, I found it to be a female Black & Yellow Garden Spider. Garden Spider - sounds almost lovely and idyllic (at least as spiders go)! But this lady is a monster! About 2 inches long! And the most amazing web - it looks like she's weaving a shirt the thing is so thick! I just couldn't believe it. Apparently these are relatively common, but I've never seen anything like it - at least not outside of a zoo. I thought perhaps she'd pose a threat to the chickens (let alone us), but supposedly they are harmless. Seems almost impossible to believe.If you happen to find spiders fascinating and want more information - check out this Wikipedia link. - Carrie
Awesome photos! Talk about natural insect control :-)
ReplyDeleteWe have a few black widow spiders that hang around on either side of our front door, and one in our garage in an out of the way place. They all do a great job in catching insects. We don't have children, the pets don't use the front door on a regular basis, nor do we have a lot of visitors, plus the spiders go into hiding when we come near, so they don't pose a safety risk as it stands right now.
Wow, Karen, black widows! And I thought I was brave! This living with nature thing isn't for the faint of heart, for sure. But I'm OK with it. I kind of view the spider now as guarding the castle - and yes, Jason would say the chickens are treated like royalty! -Carrie
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