Monday, July 14, 2008

Crab Spider and Bee....


I decided to take a little walk down my road Saturday evening when I noticed a bee just clinging to this vetch and not moving. I thought it was kind of odd so I looked a little closer and this is what I found. The crab spider lies in wait on flower blossoms and ambushes an insect like this bee when it comes along. They also have the ability to change color, they can go from yellow to white. I've seen them on daisys in their white form and on black eyed susans in their yellow form and they blend right in. It seemes like this guy was in transition, between yellow and white. Either way it really wouldn't blend in well on a purple flower. The sun was real low and this shot was highly backlit so I used my foil reflector to add light otherwise it would've just been a silouhette.

8 comments:

The Birdlady said...

In spite of the "violence" this is a gorgeous photo - the colors are beautiful, and you really got "up close and personal." Thanks for sharing. I love it.

kjpweb said...

Woah John! This time you outdid yourself - that is an awesome shot! Perfect is an understatement!
Kudos! Cheers, Klaus

Mary said...

Great shot! Perfect lighting. Seems to be a lot of drama in the flowers right now in everyone's blogs. Crab spiders are certainly interesting and I didn't really know about them, until they started showing up in blogs.

Eve said...

Fantastic John!!! I took photos yesterday afternoon of the crab spider in a milkweed (maybe joe-pie weed) with legs outstreched waiting for a little bee to fly in. The wind was blowing and it was difficutlt to get and he never caught the bee. I'll post that tomorrow!!
Have a great day today too!!

Louise said...

What a shot! Not only to happen upon this in the first place, but to make something that would have been a silhouette so bright a clear.

Nick S said...

That's awesome John. I found one of those last year , but haven't seen one this summer.

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Wow! Beautiful! What a shot, in a number of ways! Aside from the picture being perfect, the critter action is great; wonderful to have the sun displayed behind it, and your foil technique worked beautifully.

Tom Arbour said...

John-

Quite a nice shot, amazing how we witnessed similar natural history events. Your crab spider gets the prize for the biggest catch. The colors of these creatures fascinate me as well- yours is a bit more yellowish, while mine is more white with a tinge of mint green.

Tom