Argiope With Prey : Photo Essay

If you've read my other article then you know that we have a garden spider (argiope) in our backyard that has an amazing three egg sacs.  I read online that the norm for these spiders is a single egg sac; however, there have been cases of a rare three, even four, egg sacs being produced.  I mentioned in my other article that I might photograph these egg sacs.  Today I did.

Here's the first two she did.  They are on the side of our heat pump.

Sometime shortly after those, she made this one, which is on the side of our house.

I took pictures of her egg sacs today, because I happened to notice her on my way back from checking our mail; she had caught a grasshopper in her web.

I couldn't decide which of the shots I preferred the most, so rather than posting them separately I decided to publish them in a photo essay.

I wish I had thought to get a picture of her before she laid all of her eggs.  She was huge!

This now-little lady will die once winter fully arrives.

She's spent her entire one year of life producing eggs.

Now she'll leave them to their fate.  Doesn't seem like much of a life.  I read that they produce a large number of young in each egg sac, although I can't find an exact, or even estimated, number.  Guess a whole lot of babies at least makes it seem sort of worth it.  I'll think of her next summer when we have like a billion of these around our house!