http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/03/28/spiders-on-the-move/ a place where nature, photography and writing meet Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:50:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/03/28/spiders-on-the-move/#comment-102 Tue, 28 Mar 2006 22:12:45 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/03/28/spiders-on-the-move/#comment-102 Pete - I'd say this was just fairly normal behaviour that one would see on a warm afternoon when snow is melting away in early spring. Last Sunday, the snow was all but gone in the forests where we were hiking, and those kinds of conditions seem to bring out the ground hunting spiders such as the Wolf Spiders <i>(Lycosidae)</i> and the Ground Spiders <i>(Gnaphosidae)</i> - and also, by the looks of things, some Running Crab Spiders such at the <i>Thanatus</i> in the photo. Many species overwinter as adults, so it doesn't take too much to get them all running about on a warm spring day. They weren't all that close together as in the photo either. They were more spread out, but would occasionally run towards each other -- perhaps thinking the other might be potential prey. This afternoon, I was out for a walk in one of the fields here at the farm and there were large numbers of <i>Gnaphosidae</i> and probably some other species of spiders, running about in the long, tangled pasture grasses. Again, possibly hunting, but maybe just sort of "waking up" and moving about as it was such a warm, sunny afternoon (about 10C) and the snow has really been melting down this last couple of days. Pete - I’d say this was just fairly normal behaviour that one would see on a warm afternoon when snow is melting away in early spring. Last Sunday, the snow was all but gone in the forests where we were hiking, and those kinds of conditions seem to bring out the ground hunting spiders such as the Wolf Spiders (Lycosidae) and the Ground Spiders (Gnaphosidae) - and also, by the looks of things, some Running Crab Spiders such at the Thanatus in the photo. Many species overwinter as adults, so it doesn’t take too much to get them all running about on a warm spring day. They weren’t all that close together as in the photo either. They were more spread out, but would occasionally run towards each other — perhaps thinking the other might be potential prey. This afternoon, I was out for a walk in one of the fields here at the farm and there were large numbers of Gnaphosidae and probably some other species of spiders, running about in the long, tangled pasture grasses. Again, possibly hunting, but maybe just sort of “waking up” and moving about as it was such a warm, sunny afternoon (about 10C) and the snow has really been melting down this last couple of days.

]]> http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/03/28/spiders-on-the-move/#comment-101 Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:01:00 +0000 http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2006/03/28/spiders-on-the-move/#comment-101 Bev, any idea what these siders were doing? It seems remarkable for them to be so abundant and so close together, particularly when there was more than one species. Bev, any idea what these siders were doing? It seems remarkable for them to be so abundant and so close together, particularly when there was more than one species.

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