Antelope Island is crawling with spiders this time of year. Huge spiders. Gazillions of them. They’re quite obvious everywhere you go on the north end of the island and they can be intimidating in the extreme.
![spider-5066[1]](https://featheredphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/spider-50661.jpg)
There’s a variety of spider species on the island but the one that gets the most attention, by far, is the orb weaver (like this one, image taken on the island). These arachnids can approach the size of the palm of your hand and their webs are very large, often draped between the sagebrush and rabbit bush plants. In early morning light when these webs really stand out most folks wouldn’t even consider taking a willy-nilly stroll off the roads and well traveled paths of the island for fear of spiders.
In fact these spiders are such a big deal on the island the state park is featuring them with the Antelope Island Spider Festival which takes place today from 9 to 4 (follow the link to learn more about the spiders and the festival) .
Two days ago as I was leaving the island I found a Common Raven on the west end of the causeway road. It looked pretty goofy from a distance and as I got closer I began to realize why.
It was covered with spider silk! Silk was draped over most of the head and it was dragging more of it from its tail and one of its feet. Much of the silk was matted and embedded with debris.
Ravens are opportunistic feeders and will eat almost anything available so I can only surmise that this bird may have been foraging for spiders and become entangled in their webs during the process.
Here’s a huge crop of a different image that shows the silk on the back of the head a little better.
The poor bird seemed confused about what was going on but I suspect it was able to eventually remove the silk by scratching it off with its feet and claws – a messy, sticky enterprise I’m sure. .
Ron
Ravens are usually such beautiful, sleek birds. I feel very sorry for this one and join everyone else in hoping that it ate a LOT of spiders!! Also hoping that it extricated itself from the spider silk very quickly. I really wonder what happened here. A couple of days before you wrote this post we went on a ranger walk at Arches National Park, and the ranger was telling us stories about how smart ravens are and about their ability to use tools. In that light, this photo is very strange. I am delighted that you are able to capture so many great photos of bird behaviors.
I am not spider phobic, but still winced in sympathy at that poor raven. One of my MS symptoms can be best described as spiders walking across my face. Which gives me the horrors. As symptoms go it is a very minor one, but one of my least favourites.
So yes, I am with Patty. I hope the raven ate (and enjoyed) every last spider…
Dear Elephant’s child, my best, and pretty much my only, friend as a child was a sweet Morgan /Standardbred mare, named Vienna. Sometimes I rode her with no saddle or bridle. I have no clue what signals , if any, I gave her, but she went where I wanted to go. Often, when we rode through the woods, I’d get a face full of spider web. The stuff would be in my mouth( I was always talking to her. She’d have one ear forward and one back), across my lips, in my nose, in my hair and, worst of all, tangled up in my eyelashes. They seemed impossible to get rid of and I hated them! I wasn’t afraid of spiders,but I didn’t like the way they captured, stored and killed their prey I’d often waste hours in the barn, trying fruitlessly to free their captives. I wish you didn’t have to deal with MS and the sensation of cobwebs on your face. If I had the magic wand I’ve always wanted, you would’t have to deal with either one!
Thanks Patty.
If I had that wand I’d use it for the same purpose, Patty.
Patty, I think you and I have a lot in common (my only real childhood friend was my cat, Pollyanna). I love reading the comments you post to this blog, and feel like I’ve gotten to know you through them. It’s a pleasure encountering someone who is a kindred spirit.
Thank you, Susan….same here.
Wow! How interesting! Great shots!
Charlotte Norton
Thank you, Charlotte.
Spiders are amazing creatures, much maligned, but I still go “ewww” when I get caught in a web. Great pics and I am sure that the raven will survive the silk in good form; it is the two legged mammals which he must watch out for!
Tana, I’m especially unnerved when I walk into a web and get it across my face. I still like spiders, though.
That’s incredible! We have Golden Orb Spiders too, but I think smaller than that. It’s not very nice getting the web across one’s face!
Sonja, they’re not all as big as your palm but some of them very nearly are.
That’s some crazy shot! I hope that raven ate the spider and its whole family…also that the poor thing was able to get rid of the web…from the looks of the stuff on his feet, he probably Been trying. I wonder how long he’ll be stuck with it…literally!
Patty, I also hope the raven was able to extricate itself from the silk. It looked like a sticky, uncomfortable mess.