There's been quite a few of you who have said that you're not digging the spiders and I totally get that. Flying is my kryptonite. I'm terrified of it, irrationally so and haven't flown for years. When I do, I take loads of drugs, washed down with copious amounts of alcohol, have my hand held by strangers and still cry the entire time. I understand that it's - all those episodes of Air Crash Investigations aside for the moment - generally safe but my body just does not want to do it. My lizard brain kicks in and overrides my thinking, rational brain. And I'm okay with that now. I used to feel a lot of guilt and like a bit of a failure and an embarrassment, and it is a bit of a limiting fear sometimes, but hey, it's part of who I am. So, absolutely no judgement from me.
In all honesty, I haven't always been a big spider fan (and still do squeal at the bigger guys even now!). It was the Jumping Spiders that really were my gateway drug into bigger and 'scarier' looking spiders though. You know, of Peacock Spider and Lucas the Spider fame? When you give these guys a chance, they are hard not to love, absolutely full of personality! I'm telling you, they are the doggos of the spider world. They're generally quite small and cute AF with four pairs of eyes, but the ones you really notice are the ones at the front, including two massive round pools of dreaminess. If you sit and watch them for any length of time you'll notice them waving their palps up and down, just like a doggo begging! And they're totally friendly and curious - hopping over to inspect and then hitch a ride up and onto, many a camera!
Happy to report for you non spider lovers, they're ambush hunters, so they don't build face-finding webs but will sit amongst the foliage or leaf litter and wait, with their excellent eyesight and pounce onto their prey ... which sometimes includes others jumpers. The two spiders in a couple of these photos aren't making babies, they're making dinner, well one of them is! 😳 Anyway, I have two big bucket list items: one is to see Orcas, and the other is to see a Peacock Spider. When I finally see a Peacock (and trust me, I've been searching) I suspect I'll be so excited I'll change every week to spider week so you best be prepared! Loads of different pics of jumpers of various species for you to peruse, or scroll, very quickly past! (And there'll be more non spidery content during the week too 🙂)
Jumping Spiders
Illawarra
