a flower and a fly and ……

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Take a look at this flower.  Do you notice anything unusual about it?  Hint: it’s not the fly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have some very pretty daffodils still in bloom down by the pond.  As the children jumped on the trampoline, I wandered over to the garden and lifted one particularly lovely flower “face” by it’s chin to look a little closer.

Right away, I noticed there was a fly on it.  I am not impressed by flies.

The fly’s wings weren’t moving and as I tipped the flower, the fly moved back and forth.  How odd, I thought.  Won’t this wretched thing just go away?

Then, I saw and understood.  A perfectly camouflaged, white and smooth, tiny spider had the fly tightly around the neck.  As I moved the flower, the spider quickly moved it’s catch away from me.  Who knows how long she had to wait to gain her prize?  Or how often a juicy meal like this comes along?  She wasn’t letting go of Mr. Fly (her next meal) for anything.

I ran to get the boys so they could see.  And then I ran to get the camera, yelling behind me, “Don’t touch it!” as away I flew.

 

Does this give anyone else a creepy feeling?  But still, very fascinating.  I have found that there are always little surprises like this one, just waiting to be discovered, outside in God’s big wonderful world.

 

Nature will bear the closest inspection. 

She invites us to lay our eye

level with her smallest leaf,

and take an insect view of its plain. 

~Henry David Thoreau

 

0 thoughts on “a flower and a fly and ……”

  3. I saw the legs immediately and though “oh,oh,oh, there is a SPIDER on that flower”. We have these weird white spiders around here too. Not a big fan. We do have an awesome Creator who likes variety and colors…and takes pleasure in all of it!

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  7. Oh Wow! How neat!We once watched a spider eat a fly in our kitchen window. The boys loved that.I felt bad for the fly…but I always think of Charlotte. =)I love your blog. =)Happy Wednesday to you.

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  12. I came by on Amber’s rec.  This is so cool!  I’ve never seen a white spider, although I think we have every kind of spider on earth here on our little 2.5 acres!!  My sister’s favorite spider saying is, “Spiders are our friends!”  She never let my kids kill spiders because the spiders keep down the other insect population – including flies!!  Thanks for taking the time to capture this with your camera – really neat!!Nina Petty

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  13. Those shots are really cool.  I looked at the first shot for a LONG time trying to find what was differant.I came on Amber’s rec, but I’ve seen you around before! I like your blog.

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  15. That’s the first “pretty” spider I think I’ve ever seen!! Did a quick Google search and it seems to be called a crab spider, and it’s actually able to change its color depending on the type of flower it calls home; however, most live on light colored flowers and prefer to eat flies, small bees and other insects. 🙂 There’s an awesome picture of one catching a bee in this link: http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/spiders/14123-white-spider-sweet-peas.html

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  16. That is so interesting! And beautiful pictures too!But what I’m REALLY amazed about is that you, a busy mother, took the time to see it. So often mothering feels so busy, so much rushing around trying to get all the myriad of things accomplished, that we don’t take time to “smell the roses.” In this case, daffodils. :)You are inspiring!

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