October 6, 2012 Spiders soar on silken strands


Seward, Alaska Sporadic Spider Report

Spiders soar
On silken strands,
Shimmering in the sunshine.

Perhaps they have always been there, these tiny brownish spiders, busily going about their tenuous lives, climbing up and down the wetland sedges with the rhythm of the tides. I have probably disrupted and killed many, tromping blithely through their precious webs and sailing strands.

Today, the light was just right, and suddenly I SAW the bustling city of spiders, illuminated from behind. Everywhere I looked, there were long parallel lines, some attached to sedges, others wafting in the breeze. I looked more closely, and found two to four spiders all gathered together as if for a social event. Dating and mating? Spider Travel Club?

I felt terrible, trapped motionless in my knowledge. Apologizing profusely to the many inhabitants of this suddenly visible world, I eased away as carefully as a clumsy human could. In my disastrous wake, I imagined them spinning more marvelous silk as they resumed their exciting travels, sailing over sedges in the autumn breeze.

Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Seward Sporadic Bird and Spider Report Reporter




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