Everything’s gotta eat! When I am out with my camera, I especially appreciate catching critters in the act of foraging. These are not always the “prettiest” pictures. Critters in the act of capturing and consuming each other can be a bit disturbing. But they are real and beautiful in their own way, and they tell an essential part of the story.

October 22, 2022 – Banana spiders (Trichonephila clavipes) rule in the autumn woods in Louisiana! This web at Black Bayou Lake NWR spanned a 5-foot opening between shrubs next to the boardwalk trail. It is constructed of golden thread, thus the spider’s more formal name is Golden Silk Orb-Weaver. This head of household would have covered my hand had I picked her up, and I say “her” advisedly. The males are small, plain and brown. They mostly lurk around the edges of the web waiting for their chance to mate and then become a meal for her.

The web is incredibly strong. She has captured a large dragonfly, but the web is also big enough and strong enough to ensnare small birds. The tensile strength of this silk is 8 times that of steel. If you ever walk into one, it will be harder than you think to disentangle yourself.

BTW, in the interest of transparency, the swirl pattern especially visible on the spider’s abdomen and the dragonfly’s wings is a filter I added to this photo. I don’t often mess with my photos like this, but I was experimenting and liked it, plus it enabled me to enter the photo in a competition for “Artistic” nature photos. Indeed, it won!

October 28, 2023 – In a matter of seconds, this Reddish Egret’s long neck will dart with lightening speed and it will swallow its prize before I can click the shutter again (Egretta rufescens). That happens quite a lot!

Adult Reddish Egrets have distinctive, dark coppery red neck feathers and dark gray wing and body feathers. This one still has the overall mottled look of a juvenile. It is foraging at the edge of a swamped field in the Rockefeller Refuge on the Gulf Coast. The last weekend in October is always the date of the Louisiana Ornithological Society’s fall meeting. I will be there whenever possible.