Black & Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) & a Story !

"Esmeralda" or... Good Deeds Never Go Unpunished !

Got coffee ? Got a glass of wine ? .... Short story coming up...

In June 2011 we moved here. That day it was 110F. I got heat exhaustion. The whole Summer went on that way. Terrible drought and heat.

Up against the South side of the house a Black and Yellow Garden Spider made her web. Now... I am not a spider lover..... at all.....(and she was a big girl...a couple of inches plus across)

That said ... I had overcome my fear of these particular ones a year before when observing one in the hedge by the apartment we were renting. It became a fascination.... from a distance (of COURSE !!) to see how she grew.. and grew.. and her skill as a huntress.

Back to the Summer of 2011.... Relentless heat... "Morticia" (yes.. I name most things) struggled on.. next to no shade cept the little she could get from the siding. I would even carefully drop a fly into her web from time to time.. or mist it with water at night.... (dont get me wrong.. she still scared the heck out of me !). She did then... make two egg purses... her time was close... and she had to follow the urge to make the next generation. The egg purses were also in direct heat... really lost causes....

One morning Morticia was gone..... I waited several days... no spider....and the nights were begining to chill down. She was dead and gone... the likelihood of any surviving babies in the egg purses was remote..... but........

Carefully (I assure you with gloves on !!!) I gathered the 2 purses and took them to an adjacent hollow Black Jack Oak(the nature of them is to hollow out and die.. but they remain strong dense hard wood). I put them deep into the hollow and added alot of Autumn leaves. It was the right enviroment for the purses and any survivors to over-Winter.

The Spring and Summer of 2012 came and went... no sign of any Black & Yellow spiders in the garden. Not really surprised. Again in 2013..... nothing.................

Three days ago I was stalking butterflies... and with my bad mid-distance sight noticed a tiny "feather" caught in what I knew was a spider web in the Lantana 30 feet away from where I was watching for movement. Thought no more of it.

(You still with me ?)

This evening... I was in the same place and saw that the "feather' was still there and walked towards it.

OH MY !!!!!!!!!! The "feather" was a ladder web inside the bigger web I knew about and THERE... in her immature glory and about 1 inch across was......ESMERALDA !!!! A Black and Yellow Garden Spider... guarding her carefully wrapped supper !

Ok.. I know she isnt one of the "babies" from 2011..... but....a little thought played itself across my mind. As the "gentlemen travelers" of old would leave a tiny mark on the gate post of a "friendly" householder (to indicate that water and food and maybe a hay bed for the night in a clean warm barn may be forthcoming) just perhaps... Morticia had left a message on the four winds that this was... if you dont get too close to the householder... a safe haven !!!

Imagination is a wonderful thing. Esmeralda may stay or go... but she is a link in the chain from the past.... to the present.. and to the future......


EXPLORED !