Wildlife mid 2009

[Ragged Robin]

Animals and birds in action are so difficult to capture successfully at the optimum sequence but you have really captured the humour of the "Buttercup Frenzy" and skill of 'Hover" in you own inimitable way - thanks for the great shots Cliff ! 

[Ragged Robin]

Inbetween the thunderstorms the light is fantastic and picks out every pattern even in a meadow of flowers where this Black Veined White spent some time flitting from one Dianthus to another 

[cohan]

far behind on this thread as all...lol--should we be starting a 'wildlife mid 2009' thread by now?

the black veined white is very nice, robin!

 a few things from past weeks here:
an ant on a leaf(and flower?) bud of Amelanchier, late may..
two shots of a sparrow (chipping sparrow?) in my yard
a slightly unnerving spider--i first saw it on a rail on an old fence where i am digging my veg garden; at first it retreated into the shadows when i came near, then as i stood there taking pics, it came closer and closer, dancing about and showing me its fancy backside, which i suppose was meant to impress or frighten? finally hanging its backside off the end of the rail, then jumping down to the next rail to get nearer, and finally onto the ground and toward me! at which point i went back to my digging a little ways off...lol

[annew]

Nice spider - its front end is very well camouflaged against the wood.

[cohan]

Nice spider - its front end is very well camouflaged against the wood.

yes, though it doesnt seem too worried about hiding, for the most part...lol

[Ragged Robin]

Do you reckon your spider is female, Cohan, as it's so feisty? 

[Maggi Young]

Wonderful creepy crawlies, everyone! 

far behind on this thread as all...lol--should we be starting a 'wildlife mid 2009' thread by now?

You are quite correct, Cohan, we are all falling behind.... I've split the topic to "mid" 2009!

[cohan]

Do you reckon your spider is female, Cohan, as it's so feisty? 

might well be! though i confess to not knowing much about identifying the gender of individual spiders..lol

[Hristo]

Cohan,
ID is simple, place a piece of chocolate nearby and see what happens! 
I have heard that the bum of the female spider is larger than the male. so if you see two together comparison may assist!
Latest hatching somewhere was of the Marbled White, Melanargia galathea, there have been around 15 of them
mobbing the various scabious species today! The caterpillars eat grass and given the scything season has started for us here any
help they can offer is appreciated!

[cohan]

Cohan,
ID is simple, place a piece of chocolate nearby and see what happens! 
I have heard that the bum of the female spider is larger than the male. so if you see two together comparison may assist!

i was reading the chocolate thing seriously, waiting to see how that would work...lol
i suspect the males stay prudently far from the females until mating time..
marbled is very pretty..

[Ragged Robin]

Cohan,
ID is simple, place a piece of chocolate nearby and see what happens! 
I have heard that the bum of the female spider is larger than the male. so if you see two together comparison may assist!
Latest hatching somewhere was of the Marbled White, Melanargia galathea, there have been around 15 of them
mobbing the various scabious species today! The caterpillars eat grass and given the scything season has started for us here any
help they can offer is appreciated!

Not sure where the spider bum chat was going    However your photo of the Marbled White is fantastic, Hristo 

[Hristo]

Cheers Cohan, RR.
RR, the spider bum chat seemed to offer so many entertaining directions many of which offered the chance of offending 50% of the population. Inside every bloke is a Bob Monkhouse / Jim Davidson etc dieing to tell a risky joke, however, if we are lucky we have a touch of self preservation that stps us!

[Rodger Whitlock]

RR, the spider bum chat seemed to offer so many entertaining directions many of which offered the chance of offending 50% of the population. Inside every bloke is a Bob Monkhouse / Jim Davidson etc dieing to tell a risky joke, however, if we are lucky we have a touch of self preservation that stps us!

Piffle, sheer piffle. Just resort to formal language and you can usually get away with murder. For example, in this case, it's not a spider's bum; it's the abdomen. And the reason it's so much larger is because it contains the ovaries, which are stuffed with eggs-to-be.

If you can find a big old orb weaver laying her eggs, watch closely. When she's done, her abdomen will be distinctly shrivelled, and having fulfilled her biological destiny, she will wander off to die.

See? Wasn't that easy?

Over at the Hancock Wildlife Foundation, I was just posting about the excretory practices of birds in general, eagles in particular, and by using formal terminology appear to have avoided giving offense.

Let me add that if you can catch a pair of spiders in the act of mating, it's a fascinating process to watch. The one time I saw it, the male ever so gingerly would pluck at the female's web until she succumbed to the romantic twanging of her silk and he had his way with her. I don't recall if he escaped intact or was eaten in a state of post-coital hunger by his mate.

[Ragged Robin]

Let me add that if you can catch a pair of spiders in the act of mating, it's a fascinating process to watch. The one time I saw it, the male ever so gingerly would pluck at the female's web until she succumbed to the romantic twanging of her silk and he had his way with her. I don't recall if he escaped intact or was eaten in a state of post-coital hunger by his mate

'Oh what a tangled web we weave...' - great words Roger -

  - I shouldn't laugh, should I?  Carrying monogamy to the extreme - strange how they can be lured to the marital/deathbed 

[Hristo]

I appologise for the piffle, I shan't bother again.