crab spider_flying_DSC_3253(1)
A goldenrod spider (Misumena vatia) in "flight". it was unusual to see one on the move as female goldenrod spiders are usually stationary, hiding in a flower ready to seize unwary prey that comes to feed. When I first saw her, she was in ambush mode, motionless in a white daisy, and well disguised. I am not sure why she decided to leave and wander around. Perhaps she caught sight of the camera and looming beast attached to it. She seemed to have constructed a network of silk “highways” ahead of time to move on through the grass as she was not casting fresh lines forwards, although she was spooling new thread behind her, presumably for safety.
crab spider_flying_DSC_3253(1)
A goldenrod spider (Misumena vatia) in "flight". it was unusual to see one on the move as female goldenrod spiders are usually stationary, hiding in a flower ready to seize unwary prey that comes to feed. When I first saw her, she was in ambush mode, motionless in a white daisy, and well disguised. I am not sure why she decided to leave and wander around. Perhaps she caught sight of the camera and looming beast attached to it. She seemed to have constructed a network of silk “highways” ahead of time to move on through the grass as she was not casting fresh lines forwards, although she was spooling new thread behind her, presumably for safety.