Birds And More 002 - Garden spider (Araneus diadematus)

-
Arachnophobia - it's all in your mind, spiders are amazing and their lives are as exciting & important as any other living being. That doesn't change that I am scared of spiders & snakes. 

Anyway, today we spotted a common Garden spider (Araneus diadematus) and witnessed the way it traps its prey. One of the UK's largest spider is the Garden spider, approximately 13 mm, and can be identified by a white cross.


Garden spider is a master craftsman and prepares an elaborate web. Flying insects gets trapped in the web, while it waits at the center. When an insect is caught, vibrations of the web attracts its attention. It then paralyzed by biting and then wraps the prey in the silk for future consumption. We saw ants getting trapped in such a manner, but butterflies, bees, wasps, flies anything that gets trapped is eaten.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Birds Around Me 0160 - Black Kite काली चील (Milvus migrans)

-
Image
The king of urban skies - "Pariah or Black Kite ( काली   चील) - Milvus migrans", you can find these birds soaring above urban landscape all over India. In the middle of New Delhi, you could actually see 100s of Black Kites. Every time I go to India, the population of these birds catches my attention, it's growing along with other birds like Wood Pigeon and Crows. Black Kite काली चील (Milvus migrans) October 2023 Jabalpur, M.P., India The  Pariah or Black Kite ( काली   चील) - Milvus migrans live in the neighbourhood of human habitations and depend for their livelihood chiefly on the artificial conditions created by the man. It is a large brown hawk easily distinguished from all other similar birds by its forked tail, a feature particularly noticeable in flight. Numbers are always present near slaughter houses, fish and meat markets, refuse dumps and docks for any bits that they can pick up. The ease and grace with which a kite will make its lightning swoop to carry off a d...
Read more

Birds Around Me 0044 - Indian Robin (कलचुरी) - Copsychus fulicatus

-
Image
Female Indian Robin (कलचुरी) / Copsychus fulicatus Taken on June 26, 2018 Location: Sanjivini Nagar, Jabalpur, India (Latitude: 23.172826, Longitude: 79.881881)   Male Indian Robin (कलचुरी) - Copsychus fulicatus  Male Indian Robin (कलचुरी) - Copsychus fulicatus  Indian Robin (कलचुरी) is a sparrow-sized bird with a long tail, which is usually held up. The chestnut or rusty under-tail coverts and dark bodies of males make them easily distinguishable. The females are ashy brown with paler chestnut under. Distribution is throughout the Indian Subcontinent and is famous for its song with rhythm maintained by twitching tail. They feed mostly on insects but are known to take frogs and lizards especially when feeding young at the nest. You can spot it switching its cocked tail up and down expressively as it turns facing one way or other around the countryside, thatch roofs, roadside hedges or stones, sand mounds, and rocks.  The male has a fairly elaborate courtship dis...
Read more

Bird Stories - Interesting Facts - Common Kingfisher

-
Image
I have been photographing, watching and observing   Common Kingfisher छोटा किलकिला, राम चिरैया, शरीफन, निता मछराला (Alcedo atthis)   for almost 8 years now. Over this time I have learned a few facts, observed some interesting behavior, and read a lot. Sharing some of these here: Common Kingfisher छोटा किलकिला, राम चिरैया, शरीफन, निता मछराला (Alcedo atthis) 1. How to differentiate between Male & Female? Both sexes of  Common Kingfisher  look very similar, females are slightly smaller than males. But the magic is in the mandible (bill or beak), males have all-black upper and lower mandibles while females have conspicuous orange lower mandibles. Obviously, females love to put lipstick on. It is hard to differentiate sexes in juveniles, they develop color in mandible only after a year or so. Male & Female Common Kingfishers with fish for the chicks 2. How to differentiate juveniles from Adults? There are two ways to differentiate between  Common Kingfis...
Read more