THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 TAG: 9609100137
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: COASTAL JOURNAL
SOURCE: MARY REID BARROW
LENGTH: 91 lines
September is spider season.
Having grown up thinking it's unlucky to destroy a spider web, I'm pretty tolerant of the critters unless the webs are totally out of place. So, this time of year I have spiders everywhere.
Most obvious are the beautiful black and yellow Argiopes that I call garden spiders. I've been keeping my eye on three recently. Two are down in my little garden and one has taken up residence on a potted gardenia on the front porch.
Recently a neighbor called to say someone had told him he had a sewing machine spider in his yard. It's bound to be an Argiope, I told him, because they ``sew'' a thick zig-zag stitch in the middle of the web. Scientists believe the stitch helps to keep the web intact by warning birds and big flying insects to stay away. The large circular web, strung on radiating support lines, has plenty of room on the outer portion for smaller, hapless insects to be snared as a spider-size meal.
Meanwhile the spiders, females all, perch in the middle of the zig-zag stitch, waiting to feel the vibrations in the web that tell them some prey has been trapped.
The females grow plumper by the day. A few weeks ago each had a male companion - a tiny little spider about a quarter of an inch long that wove its own web over in a corner of the female's domain.
Now the males are long gone and before too long each female will lay its eggs in a brown casing that looks a lot like a paper bag gathered closed at the top with string. The egg sack, secured in the web, will be the spiderlings' home when they hatch until next spring.
Last year, I found only one web in the garden, so I am assuming all three of my spiders are progeny of that one female. No telling how many I will have next year.
SPIDER II: Brooke Betzler, who grew up thinking it would rain if you killed a spider, has been watching an orb weaver make its way around her deck by building a new web each day.
Orb weaver is the name for a large group of spiders including my garden spiders. But Betzler's greenish-gold spider is often called an orb weaver as its own common name, too.
Like many orb weavers, but unlike my garden spider, Betzler's spider spins a new web every evening, entirely in the dark. Each night it just moves its abode next door to where it was living the night before. Betzler's spider neatly takes up the old web, too.
``She rolls it up as if she's going home from a camping trip,'' Betzler said, ``a nice neat roll and then she eats it!''
SPIDER III: People often ask if spiders are poisonous. Yes, they are, but most of them have venom only strong enough to kill their tiny prey and they are into biting insects, not humans. In this area only black widow and brown recluse spiders are poisonous enough to be dangerous to humans.
FUTURE PICKLE? Norma Anderson, found a cucumber unattended on her vine that grew 14 inches long and reached a diameter of 11 1/2 inches. The big cuke weighed in at 3 pounds.
CONFUSED BIRDS? Maury Bailey, who lives on the Chesapeake Bay, said he watched three pelicans fly in perfect formation behind a large gull, something he had never seen before.
``Do you suppose all birds look alike from behind?'' Bailey asked.
GIVING TWO HOOTS: Laura Hoots who lives in Brighton on the Bay called to say that she saw two great horned owls in her yard one evening recently.
One of the huge owls was perched on the roof of the house right over the deck where she and her family were eating dinner. It was hooting away, calling to another owl that they could not see but whose hoot they also could hear.
Then much to the family's surprise, the second owl flew right across the yard and landed on the roof of the garage. ``It's amazing to see one, but to see two!'' Hoots said. ``They are so beautiful when they fly. They're huge.''
Yes, Laura's last name is really Hoots. ``Isn't that something!'' she said.
P.S. Carve a flat-bottom Canada goose, about 12 inches long, at a carving class, beginning Thursday at the Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum at the de Witt Cottage, 12th and Atlantic. Two eight-week sessions will be offered, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 6:30 to 9 p.m., on Thursdays. The fee is $60 plus $20 for supplies, and beginners are welcome. Call 437-8432.
TAKE AN OLDE STITCH (of another kind): A program to learn the basic cross stitch, the queen stitch and the Algerian eye stitch, will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Francis Land House. Members of the Tidewater Sampler Guild will instruct. Cost is $2. Call 431-4000 for reservations. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know
about Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555.
Enter category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.What unusual nature have you seen this week? And
what do you know about Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on
INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter category 2290. Or, send a computer message to
my Internet address: mbarrow(AT)infi.net. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Scientists believe that the black and yellow Argiope spider uses a
thick zig-zag stitch in the middle of the web to keep the web intact
by warning birds and big flying insects to stay away. Meanwhile,
smaller bugs are caught in the smaller radiating lines. by CNB