Kevin and I have noticed a lack of flying bugs in our backyard lately, namely, the lack of flies and smaller gnats. We have noticed, however, an increase in the number of large spiders and praying mantises. I think that the two are related.
That is a picture of a praying mantis that was sitting on my hydrangeas last night. In real life, he was about as big as my hand, which puts him at about 6 inches long. He was huge!
I did some research, and there is a really good article about praying mantises in Ohio here: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2154.html. Apparently, some people buy praying mantis eggs and use them as a natural pest control for their yards! I wonder if the people who lived at our house before us did that, or if we just have a lot because we live in a rural area.
In addition to the wolf spiders that we find in our basement more frequently than I would like, we've also noticed that we have a good number of these in our backyard.
I'm not sure what type of spider this is, but they make massive webs spanning 3 to 4 feet in size, and they are larger than a quarter. As long as they are outside, though, I don't mind them.
I looked online this morning, and the only type of spider that I've found that looks like this one is the Neoantistea magna (Hahnnid) that you can see at this page: http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu/spiderweb/SpiderPictures/Hahniidae/Neoantist.... If you know what this spider is, or know of a good spider website where I can look it up, let me know.
Then, in the spirit of sharing pictures from last night when we were in the backyard, I leave you with this picture of my husband, with a stick that he was using to poke a spider on his web.
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