Saturday, June 15, 2013

The Sunday Mini-Challenge ~ Not guaranteed to be spider-free

Hi Toads, Kay here, with a bit of fun for you.
This challenge was originally to have been all about this great huge and very big spider that jumped onto the head of my friend Jenn's cat, Daisy, and the interesting, if somewhat gruesome, things said spider has been said to do.

Daisy wonders where it went. Photo by Jenn Jilks
The young cat had been eyeing the spider, which made it nervous, so it jumped up onto Daisy's head and hid behind her ear where she couldn't see it.
Critters who do things like that make me very nervous. Behind her ear. Ugh.
This one is Dolomedes Triton, a six-spotted fishing spider. The myth, Jenn says, is that they eat fish.
The truth is, they eat water striders and other water bugs (or anything else they want to eat, apparently not including cats).
Another myth, and this is why I thought it would make a good Toads challenge, is that the females often eat the males during courtship.
It seems the truth, however, according to a Wikipedia article about Triton's cousin, Dolomedes Fimbriatus, is that females who have already bred will eat males who attempt to breed with them thereafter.
D. Fimbriatus is heftier than her cousin, and singularly unattractive, in my opinion. I can't see why anyone would want to get near her, never mind mate with her.
The most interesting thing (again, in my opinion) about the Dolomedes girls is that they carry their eggs around in silk bags in their jaws, until they have hatched, as the ones in the photo below, have done, then leave them to find their way out of the bag and into the world unaided.

Wikipedia photo, Dolomedes Fimbriatus
Photo by Jenn Jilks
Cute, huh? But, in case you don't want to write poetry about spiders (and heaven knows I'd rather not) I'm including an assortment of Jenn's wildlife photos. They live near Perth, Ontario, where the nearby swampy land is a mecca for wildlife. But first, she and her husband live with four cats who seldom gather to eat all at once, so the photo above is considered most unusual, according to Jenn.

Daisy and her sister Dorah love to accompany Jenn on walks,
even where the ground is wet. Photo by Jenn Jilks
Canada Goose with gosling. Photo by Jenn Jilks
Tree frog. Photo by Jenn Jilks
I don't want to come out to play. Photo by Jenn Jilks
The baby phoebes in this nest are just beginning
to open their eyes. Photo by Jenn Jilks
And, for me, a darlin' duckling.
Photo by Jenn Jilks

The Sunday Challenge is posted on Saturday at noon CST to allow extra time for the creative process, so please do not link up old work which kind of fits an image.  This is in the spirit of our Real Toads project to create opportunities for poets to be newly inspired.  Management reserves the right to remove unrelated links but invites you to share a poem of your choice on Open Link Monday.


11 comments:

Kerry O'Connor said...

Thanks for this wonderful prompt, Kay, and for introducing us to Jenn's photography.

Helen said...

Love the photography and the adorable little critters ... I don't love pesky spiders, no matter how clever!

I must apologize ~~ I've gone a bit 'off grid' with a haiku.

{forgive?}

Kay L. Davies said...

@ Helen — whichever way the prompt takes you, that's the way you gotta go. Enjoyed yours very much!
K

Scarlet said...

Thank you for introducing her work to us Kay ~ Will put on my weekend cap and see where it will take me ~

Happy weekend to everyone ~

hedgewitch said...

Laughin at the spider who eats the extraneous males once their usefulness is ended, and can't say I blame her for wanting that bag of babies out of her mouth--I wouldn't be walking away, I'd be running.Thanks for the laughs,Kay, and a great challenge, plus your friends lovely wildlife photos--those cats are gorgeous.

Esther Joy said...

Loved the Canada goose and gosling picture. The way you caught the reflections in the water were beautiful!

Maggie Grace said...

I hope I got all the rules right. Saw someone else did a haiku. Adorable photos. Had to do the little duckling.

Ella said...

Beautiful photos...thank you for sharing! No thanks on the spiders, but I do love the ducks and turtle ;D

Susie Clevenger said...

What beautiful photography. I love the cat pictures! Thank you Kay for sharing Jen's work with us.

Peggy said...

I generally like having the huge yellow-stro[ed garden spiders that take up residence in my garden in the late summer or early fall. Some years they do not come and I kind of miss them. They make those lovely orb webs and generally just sit in the middle of them all day. I have some photos of them and I will try to do a poem. Perhaps I will post it on Open Monday since I am a day late here.

dragyonfly said...

laughing uproariously at Hedgewitch...running from egg bag.
And as for eating useless males, Im ready.

Now I have something to write about...thanks...