Backyard Zoology · 29 November 2018
2018-11-29T17:40:09+11:00
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Me: I'm so hungry I could eat anything!!!

Also me: *sees spider eating one of its own kind* Yeah maybe not THAT hungry 😳

Found my first Silver Orb Spider the other day. Not sure how I've missed them up to this point; they're fairly common although they are smallish I guess. But the flash of silver is pretty hard to ignore! These spiders build their webs horizontally or on an incline generally over shrubbery in the hopes that they can catch insects as they fly upwards. But this spider was happy to catch and eat another Silver Orb. Yikes.

Now I love shiny things. I know I say this regularly and I swear that these comments are not a thinly veiled hint to husby (although if that's how he wants to take them who am I to stand between a man and his dreams? 😂) but shiny critters are some of my favourite things. I just love how they glint in the sun and appear, I don't know, almost unnatural amongst foliage or sitting on bark (if that makes sense). 

But I am yet to see one of my favourite shiny insects this year - the Christmas Beetle. Anyone had any luck yet this season? I have such vivid and enduring memories of hearing the thwack of Christmas Beetles hitting our screen doors on balmy summer nights and getting ridiculously excited knowing that Santa was just around the corner. If you have seen any, please post your photos so that I can get into the Christmas spirit!

Silver Orb Spider
Wollongong Botanic Gardens

#silverorbspider #arachnid #christmasiscoming #dinnertime #wollongongbotanicgardens #backyardzoology