Wednesday, November 29, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
Spiders forever!
Yes, I admit, I’ve done it
to every one of my six chil-
dren and 13 grandchildren:
I’ve exposed them to the
beauty and the role of spi-
ders in our lives.
It was so beautiful in my
house when my kids were
growing up. Never once did
I hear a scream and the shrill
cry of alarm, “It’s a spi-
der!” Instead it was usually,
“Hey Dad, here’s one I’ll bet
you’ve never seen before.”
I knew who the “one”
was: an eight-legged mem-
ber of the arachnid family.
Then the fun would
begin. “How many eyes
does it have, and, male or
female?” The answer would
come back, “Looks like
eight, yep, it’s a male, and
it’s here on the seat of my
bicycle… or, as the kids got
older, “on the steering wheel
of my car.”
It was the same way
with insects, birds, snakes
and other animals we share
this grand old earth with.
When Sue and I were help-
ing Rick and Connie Hewitt
run the “Hummingbird
Capital of the World,” The
N a t u r e C o n s e r v a n c y ’s
Ramsey Canyon Preserve in
Southeast Arizona, it was the
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same way with snakes and
spiders.
My oldest son, Dean
was going to high school
just down the canyon in the
city of Sierra Vista and had
a blast. His responsibility
at the preserve was to keep
all the hummingbird feed-
ers full. On his route he’d
often run into those huge orb
web spiders’ webs between
feeders and watch the BIG
Sonoran wolf spiders scam-
pering about under his feet.
I always thought all those
beautiful “Charlottes” were
on speaking terms with
the pig-like javelinas who
occupied “Wilbur’s” niche.
How lucky can you get!
I just can’t imagine what
Dean had to go through on
his tour of duty when he
and his F-16 were flying
combat in Iraq; all that new
wildlife!
There’s a huge, platter-
sized cousin of spiders living
over there which is closely
related to what people in
Arizona know as the “Sun
Spider,” which is actually a
solpugid. It has eight legs,
but no venom. However,
in the Iraq countryside it’s
an enormous, platter-sized
solpugid the natives have
named the “camel spider,”
and believe you me, it’s a
very cranky-looking beast.
You, my wonderful read-
ers, have never complained
about the many pieces I’ve
written in my column on the
wonders of spiders, so imag-
ine my wonder and delight
last week when I walked
into The Nugget office to
resupply my butterscotch
candy and pass the time of
day with Teresa (who’s the
keeper of the candy among
other duties) and was greeted
by Karen Keady who said,
“Oh, Jim, I can’t thank you
enough for the kind words
you’ve shared with every-
one about spiders.” Needless
to say, I was glowing. It isn’t
every day you have someone
thank you for writing some-
thing nice about spiders.
My poor wife, Sue has
been putting up with me and
spiders for 40 years, and the
only time she loses patience
with me (about spiders at
least) is when she catches
me putting the bathtub spi-
ders in the closet.
“Outside!” she’ll shout,
repeating, “not in the
closet!” over and over. But
in spite of her orders, I man-
age to get many of them in
the clothes closet to feed
on clothes moths and other
cotton-eaters.
Now, here’s some news
if you don’t want those
Charlotte orb webs on your
back porch or by the garage
door. Personally, when I see
the moths and flies trapped
in orb webs and eaten by the
Charlottes, I shout for joy!
It will never be necessary to
spread chemicals around if
you have a Charlotte or two
in your backyard.
But if you’re feeding the
numbers of nuthatches and
chickadees — as I’m doing
— there’s a good chance you
won’t have any orb-weavers
or sheet web spiders I once
had. Watching those two
bird species working the
eaves and tiny crooks and
crannies of my house really
impresses me. They are
working over those spider
niches like nobody’s busi-
ness, and I’m sure not a spi-
der can survive such intense
searches.
And, speaking of birds
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9
PHOTO BY SUE ANDERSON
Grandsons Daxon and Graham, brainwashed by their grandfather to
think of spiders as friends, not enemies.
and spiders, Jess Draper at
The Nugget has an 11-year-
old daughter, Daisy, who is a
Junior Naturalist of consid-
erable skills. This is a note
Jess sent me:
“The other day, Daisy
asked me to come get ‘Fred’
— one of the gigantic red-
dish brown spiders that often
show up in my basement —
from her room because he’s
is just too large for comfort.
So I go get him in a con-
tainer and set him on the
kitchen table while we have
breakfast.
“Everybody has a good
laugh over how big Fred is,
and Daisy is talking about
him like he’s an old pet.
After we eat, Daisy takes
the container out front and
let Fred go in the grass…
Immediately a bird swoops
down and carries Fred off
right in front of her.
“Now she wants any
future spiders released out-
side after dark.”
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