Fight to the Finish!

  Every now and again, (if you are lucky and have a ton of patience), you come across an opportunity to watch nature at its best..or worst, depending upon your point of view.  I deem any moment spent observing wildlife well worth the time.  Today, Michael and I were working in the greenhouse.  We planted turmeric and ginger roots, watered every plant and dead-headed those that were past their prime. It felt nice being inside the warm greenhouse and out of the strong southwest winds.  Although, our temperatures were upwards of 60 degrees, the wind picked up the chill of the water making it quite uncomfortable.  It was just as we were quitting for the day, that Michael noticed the predator capturing its prey.  That was all it took for us to be spellbound.  We watched as the brutal deed was completed over the course of twenty minutes.  It was not pretty but was quite interesting, to say the least.

  Now, I don't normally enjoy viewing some critter killing another but, in this case, I did not think twice about the gore!  In fact, there really was none.  Our predator was a tiny spider that had built its web across one window of the greenhouse.  The prey was a pesky housefly that had been irritating us from the moment we set foot indoors.  We both were actually rooting for the spider!

  Try as it might, once the fly made the fatal error of touching the first web, it could not release itself.  One leg first became ensnared.  The fly flapped its wings in panic.  We thought sure that its beating would tear the single strand of web but it did not.  Then one wing became stuck. This caused the fly to spin on the single strand. Round and round spun the fly.  While the fly was literally beating the web to pieces, the little spider worked tirelessly to repair each strand.  It knew the strength of its webbing and knew that to capture the fly, it needed to extend the web quickly.  The fly beat on and the spider patiently waited. Frantically, the fly tried to push with its feet.  No luck.  It tried to flip sideways.  No luck.  It tried spinning more.  No luck.  The spider waited. The more the fly moved, the worse it became stuck to the webbing.

  After about twenty minutes, the fly's energy was spent.  It could hardly move.  Sheer exhaustion had taken its toll on the fly.  Now, the spider made its move.  The dirty deed only took moments after the prior struggle.  The spider bit the fly several times paralyzing it.  The fly was subdued.  The spider had food.  Michael and I were entertained.  Not a bad ending....well, I guess it really was not too good for the fly.

**Thanks to my son, Michael, for taking such great photographs for this blog!