Baby Spider Nursery - This Year's Batch of Araneus diadematus

One of the delightful signs of spring is the baby spider nursery. Every year we find one in a new place.  Some years they are in places that conflict with human traffic. This year was one of those years. It looked as though the webbing with the egg sac started out on an angle between the front window and the porch. In the time it took to get the camera, the ball of spiderlings had settled onto the porch right in the path from driveway to front door.

I ran string around the porch posts and made signs.  Over the course of three to four days they ventured farther from the nest, at first returning each night to cuddle together in a ball. It takes three to four days for the babies to disperse completely. These will grow up to string their beautiful webs around the garden, catching raindrops in the late summer.

Repurposing Gone Awry

 The Marimos are recovering from their unpleasant bout with slime. They came with an attractive white sand-like substrate. Unfortunately, the substrate stuck to the sides of the Mos. (You can still see some of it clinging to them)

When I gave them their summer clean-out, I decided to put pebbles in the bottom. Pebbles that I had previously used in the bottom of a planter for extra humidity and which had been outside for a year and were a little green. I washed them off, layered them in the glass and put the Mos back. Over the course of the fall the water gained a slime covering which drifted down into the Mos' space. 

I woke in the middle of the night with horror (not an uncommon occurrence). Slime was growing in my office and choking my Marimos.

I lay awake formulating a plan of attack. Could the slime be blue-green algae, toxic to those who might drink it?  I resolved to bury the slimy water in a hole, rinse the Mos before restoring them to a pristine bowl. 

The next day I prepared for the attack. I went to the dollar store to get  a strainer, slotted spoon and bucket. I went to Goodwill to get a new, bigger container. 

I dug a hole, put a hanger around the strainer and balanced it over the hole. I drained the mucky water off and rinsed the Mos with water from the bucket. I couldn't use the hose because we were having an unusual bout of freezing weather and the hoses were stiff with ice. The Mos were put into their new larger container with nothing on the bottom in case the slime came back. 

It's been a month and all seems to be well. No slime. So far.

Return of the Crawling Dead-Not All Caterpillars Are Cute

Hello friends. What horrors do I have in store for you today? Something really creepy, though I realize now that I should have taken video rather than still picture so you could experience the true awfulness of what I am about to reveal.

TENT CATERPILLERS!

Actually, they look pretty cute in the photo. This is because you can't see them TWITCH! Though I find many things in nature scary (see blog title), few things truly make my skin crawl. Tent caterpillars are one of them.

Do you have them where your are? I sincerely hope not. Malacosoma californicum all live together in a big web nest. We've had so few in the past several years I had forgotten about them. The nests can grow quite large, engulfing whole branches. The webbing of the nests is disturbing, recalling Mirkwood and large bodies running through the tree tops. 

But that's not the creepiest part. They twitch when they feel threatened and it looks synchronized, almost as though they were all controlled by one big brain. AHHH!

I saw these on rugosa bushes in a store parking lot. I do hope we won't have any in the Scaredy Cat Naturalist's yard. They would tax my wildlife sanctuary sensibilities. So far the only creatures not welcome here are fleas and mosquitos.

A Christmas Cactus

My Christmas cactus is actually blooming. I haven't managed to kill it yet. Long ago, in California, I used to have quite a green thumb. Here in Washington, I can kill anything. It is remarkable that this plant is still alive, let alone producing a bloom. It used to be much bigger.

Origin of Mysterious Bark Strips Revealed

All the trees on our large suburban lot were topped long before we moved here. The birches in front and the evergreens in the back. This means vigilance and tree inspections to monitor the condition of the trees. We've had several trees removed when they began to drop huge limbs on to the roof and our neighbor's car. 

We ask the arborist to leave a snags when cutting the trees. We have one tall hemlock snag that was untouched for several years.

During the summer we found huge strips of bark strewn around the basketball court. But we never saw or heard any birds. Until now. 

I was doing some yard chores when I heard the rat-a-tat of bird beak on wood. Peering around the bushes, I saw a large woodpecker with a bright red Mohawk. I didn't get the camera because the bird looked around constantly.  

On the week-end my husband alerted me to the bird's return. I shot some pictures through the bedroom window. He reared his head far from the trunk to build up momentum for the percussive hits. Bits of bark flew thorough the air.

This is probably a male pileated woodpecker since the red extends down the forehead. His favored food is carpenters ants.  Carpenter ants! 20 feet from the house! I hope he is extremely hungry.

My beautiful bumblebee nest box from Bumble Boosters did not attract any queen bumblebees. It might have been a bit late when I set it out. It still looks pristine so I think I will set it out again next year.

Desirable residence, brand new, lovely prospect with access to a variety of flowers, perfect for family life

I did however get a few takers on the wood block house. The two largest holes are daubed with mud. I'm guessing around the end of March next year mason bees will emerge. 

The top two holes are plugged with mud

 Mason bees nested in the windows again, this time in the bedroom. Perhaps someone should market vinyl windows as mason bee homes.  One bee emerged first. It didn't crawl all over the window like last's year brood. It wandered up and down the window track. When I took it outside, it just sat on the ground. 

More bees emerged over several days and behaved in a similar fashion. They walked up and down and disappeared back into the hole they came from. One bee attacked another. Very different behavior from last year.

Looking closely at them, I saw what I first thought was mud on their fur but I think now they were all infested with mites. This is a clear lesson on why nests should not be reused from year to year. Of course this meant the bottom channel of our window that is right over our bed had mites in it. Luckily they weren't interested in us.

We are somewhat sensitive on the topic of mites. There are many kinds and some are host specific, but others are generalists. Years ago, we had an infestation of mites that came up from the crawl space after we exterminated rats under the house.  On the search for new hosts, they invaded the bathroom counter. Mites are really tiny so it took awhile to figure out what was biting us and where they were coming from. Then it took some trial to find the right non-toxic elimination method.

I sound detached and clinical about it, don't I? Actually, it was horrific seeing a multitude of eensy white things crawling on the bathroom counter. And they kept coming back. Time does draw a veil over things, thank goodness.

When I saw mites on the mason bees I stopped taking photos. Out they all went. They didn't fly off and probably became food for some critter. The photos I did take have disappeared. I won't be so excited next year if mason bees emerge from the windows. I may have to plug all the outer holes to prevent nesting.

 When I visited my grandparents and aunt in Florida forty years ago, the nights were livened by tiny frogs hopping into the house from the backyard. We don't see them now.

One of the great things about going to new areas is seeing unfamiliar wildlife. I was so excited when we found this fellow hiding behind the hurricane shutters at our aunt's house.

He was large, about five inches. He wasn't disturbed by the opening of the shutters or having his picture taken until I tried to get a shot from above.

Then he turned toward me. Look at that face, almost human. 

Back in Washington, I looked him up. He is a Cuban tree frog. Aaand, wait for it.....he is an invasive species! Yes, even when I travel I run into invasives.

Cuban tree frogs are much bigger than native Florida frogs and eat them up. You can do this simple test to confirm you have a Cuban tree frog. Take the frog (Wear gloves. Its skin emits an irritating substance) and try to move the skin on the head. If it doesn't move it's a Cuban tree frog since the skin is fused to the skull.

If you find you have a Cuban tree frog, you are encouraged to euthanize it. Want to know how? Catch the frog in a plastic bag. Holding the frog (again wear gloves) rub a stripe of benzocaine along its back or use a benzocaine spray. Put it in a plastic bag and seal the bag. 

The benzocaine will knock the frog out. Place the bag with the unconscious frog in your freezer overnight. Wash your hands well just to make sure you don't have any skin secretion on them. 

The frog will enter hibernation and then die. The next day put the bag in the trash.

How glad am I that I didn't know what kind of frog it was until safely back home? Very glad. How glad am I to only be a visitor to the Florida house? So, so glad.

Excuse me. I was gone for ten days and it's time to hunt bracken. Which I will do, gladly.

More information on Cuban tree frogs at University of Florida extension