Learning something new every day

Older Daughter described how she went out to her car the other day to drive to work. It was very early in the morning (maybe 5 am), and she was startled when something scurried away from her in the parking lot. She said it was about 2.5 inches long and looked like a large spider with huge front legs. She managed to snatch a photo.

I asked if it was a scorpion (this is before she sent the photo), and she said no. She said it was a camel spider.

"A camel spider!" I exclaimed. "I thought those were only found in the Middle East!"

It seems not. I looked it up, and by golly they're also found in North America, notably in drier and more desert-y areas.

And, unmistakably, it was a camel spider (also called a whip scorpion). These are arachnids, but not true spiders. Instead they belong to the order Solifugae, and there are many species spanning both the Old and the New Worlds.

Freaky-looking things, aren't they? However they're harmless to humans, can't climb or spin webs, and are beneficial to the ecosystem.

But yeah ... I never knew camel spiders were found in Idaho. Ya learn something new every day.

Spider web

In the slats near our yard gate a few evenings ago, I noticed the sun highlighting a tiny but nearly perfect spider web.

It couldn't have been more than three inches across, with the spider in the center (of course).

The next morning, the spider was gone and the web was in tatters. It's good to stop and notice things like this when they happen. Nature is amazing.

Itsy-bitsy spiders

Older Daughter came in from the shop the other day and said, "Did you notice the baby spiders on the porch? You may want to grab your camera."

So I followed her outside and saw, between two boards of the porch, hundreds of gold-colored newly hatched baby spiders.

Hundreds.

These are the same species of baby spiders that were clustered on our deck a couple years ago, which I was able to sweep up with a forked stick and drop into the grass below before they had a chance to migrate indoors.

Older Daughter and I each used a thin stick to sweep the babies up. Rather than staying clustered, though, they started dropping down on silk threads from the stick. They looked like the spider equivalent of a beaded curtain.

We hastily carried the sticks draped with spiders toward the yard fence. The silk threads got longer and longer as we walked.

We got (most) of the spiderlings over the fence into the long grass on the other side, where I hope they live long and fruitful lives. We just don't need that many baby spiders in the house. I'm glad Older Daughter spotted them when she did.

The Idaho screaming death spider

In our pantry, a spider has made itself at home.

Older Daughter noted this afternoon that the arachnid was turned facing out, so its pattern was visible. "Kinda interesting," she commented.

"It's the Idaho screaming death spider," Don joked. "Found only in pantries."

I got curious, however. Was this a juvenile black widow? I enlarged the photo:

Below is a juvenile black widow (photo source):

Nope, definitely not a juvenile black window. Instead, it appears to be triangulate cobweb spider (photo source):

But, for our purposes, we'll continue to call this harmless and beneficial little creature the Idaho screaming death spider if it discourages people from moving to Idaho.

Bit and bobs

Here are a few random bits and bobs from the last few weeks.

We have a shed in our yard we use for garden tools, etc. The doors were open on it for about a week or so. One day Don saw a robin fly in with food in its beak, and we thought, "Uh oh, robin built a nest inside." If that was the case, we'd have to keep the shed doors open until the babies fledged.

Later that same day I went to put something inside the shed and saw this:

Not a nest, but a fledgling that had made its way in.

Of course we left the shed doors open. By the next day, it was gone.

Ground squirrel.

Full moon behind a pine.

There is a single volunteer sunflower plant growing in one of the potato beds.

It's always worth examining things like this up close...

...because you never know what you might see.

And another small spider, this one on our screen door. I believe it's a young orb weaver.

I have some basil plants growing on the deck. I was going to transplant them into the garden beds, but never got around to it, so I repotted them in larger pots and they're happily growing.

However something was eating the leaves.

Aha! Found the culprit. Look how closely it blends in, color-wise. I scooped it up and dumped it over the side of the balcony.

Grasses, blooming.

Allergies, anyone?

A clump of irises growing by the side of the driveway. This photo was taken about a month ago.

In late June, I baffled to see what looked like carrots growing in the rocks next to one of the garden beds. Carrots? How?

The mystery was solved a few weeks later. Not carrots, but Queen Anne's lace, a member of the carrot family.

I know Queen Anne's lace is technically an invasive weed, but I absolutely stinkin' love it.

A very, very distant doe and her fawn.

Some quail parents herding their chicks toward the safety of some brush.

Sunrise..

...and sunset.

Micro-drama

We have a small lamp on the kitchen counter.

The other day, a small movement caught my eye near the base of the lamp.

It seems a tiny spider, living in the crevices on the lamp, had caught a fruit fly almost bigger than itself. I grabbed the camera, turned on the macro lens, and tried to capture the battle.

I wanted to cheer the spider on. Eat all the fruit flies you can! Please!

It was quite an epic (if tiny) struggle, and sometimes the spider had to pause and retreat a bit.

But in the end he succeeded and hauled the fruit fly away.

Micro (macro?) drama in the kitchen.