We are going out this dewy morning to visit some of the spiders from Friday’s Creepy Spicer Hunt. Emerson (almost 5 years old now) is particularly interested in the large black and yellow garden spider, also known as the writing spider. We stop at the meadows behind the Buttinger Nature Center for just a little fun in nature before I dropped him off at the babysitter. There is not much time for us but it is time well spent.

The grass is cold and wet, laden with morning dew. Close to the ground we can see the small flat webs of the sheet web weavers, Linyphiidae, all over the meadow. Most of these webs are less than two inches in diameter and so fine that the dew just lays in them as if they were hammocks. We marvel at their intricate structure and search for the tiny spider that resides under the sheet. “There’s one!”

Also near the ground are the larger webs of the funnel web weavers, Agelenidae. These spiders resemble wolf spiders accept that they construct horizontal webs and reside in a woven funnel at the end of it. Emerson recognizes these webs for we have them at home, under some shrubs, and behind the mailbox. I know why some of our mail goes missing from time to time; postmen too.

Finally we come to the Argiope, the yellow and black garden spider. Emerson’s eyes widen as he marvels at the size and beauty of this spider. I grin as I spot her suitor, the six-legged male, on his web, even closer to her than a few days ago. We quietly admire the scene - to parallel webs in the green jungle of plants, the zig-zag stabilimentum running through the female’s web, the wrapped-like-a-mummy bee that will be eaten as a meal sometime today, the size difference between the genders, and, well, you get the picture. We share our thoughts and I wonder to myself just when these two spiders might couple. I will be back and check everyday. Probably more than once daily.

 For Emerson, I will continue to share this experience in other ways. We will look more carefully around our yard and in the neighborhood for different types of spiders.  And as we snuggle up at bedtime to read, we will share a book I found nestled in our shop at the Nature Center - Spinning Spiders, part of the Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out Science series. The wonder continues every day and every night . . .