We have some bird pictures from reader Karen Bartelt. She didn’t ID the bird but I suspect it’s a ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris); readers please verify.
We feed hummingbirds all spring and summer. This little guy had a habit of landing on a milkweed near the house, so I shot some photos. When I looked at them, I was shocked – they looked like the bird had a laser pointer pointed on his chest. Actually, this is a very immature male getting the first red feather on his ruby throat.
And a lovely picture of a spider and the moment her offspring hatch, provided by reader Diana MacPherson of Ontario. If you know the identification of this spider, put it below.
I noticed this spider outside my bathroom window a week or so ago. She was eating a pest: a Japanese Beetle. Then I noticed her with eggs & today & saw the hatchlings coming out of the eggs so I got my camera with its macro lens & took this picture. I think she may be a Branch Tip Spider but I’m not sure which one, so I can’t really apply a Latin binomial to this one; and I may be totally wrong about the identification altogether.
Likely one of the cobweb weavers, and I suspect a house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum).
Strange, I had a comment here and was going to update it, but it’s gone… either way, I was going to say Parasteatoda tepidariorum too, based on the comment about the egg sacs on this page:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/456378
Or maybe yous are right. The legs look different in this picture.
Her legs aren’t as long as the spiders in those pictures. She has rather short legs.
They make a series of egg sacs, and this one is still full of eggs. Her big abdomen makes the legs look smaller. I guess I’m digging in.
Yeah I think you might be right about what kind of spider she is. I really like this spider as she just sits there eating pests.
Lovely hummingbird pictures!!
I wondered if the spider were a branch tip spider….it makes what I call a “messy” web, i.e.: not an orb weaver web.
Yes, it’s a ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). The only kind of hummingbird native to Central IL, unfortunately.
I have one that visits my butterfly bush, but so far I cannot get decent pix with my zoom lens.