Charlotte is a Joro spider who has occupied a web at my front door for about three months. Photo by Joe Kitchens.

Since I discovered Charlotte at our front door, I have checked on her daily, often snapping a photo. I am not a naturalist by inclination or profession, so my observations are subjective and not informed by academic study. But Charlotte has grown on me.

In my mind, I was inspired by my mother’s admonition that every living thing is unique and that I should never kill a living thing without good cause. I still feel remorse over killing a woodpecker with my new air rifle at ten. Of course there was forgiveness in the event we killed a cockroach, Black Widow spider, poisonous snake or assorted other obnoxious citters. Her caution inspired a curiosity about all the many living things that I saw on my days playing outdoors and on outings with my Boy Scout troop. Scouting taught me to learn how to teach myself through reading and study.

A Side View

My cell phone camera proved to be a useful tool in recording the lives of the beautiful Joro spiders I first encountered late last summer. This year, I was better prepared and glad to have one build its incredible web at my front door. I named her Charlotte, inspired by E.B. White’s children’s story Charlotte’s Web. Charlotte’s life cycle, from her first appearance in early August of the current year matured to be quite a big girl as you can see in the photo above. For three months she has been the stoic occupant of a giant web that in itself is beautiful. And Charlotte is brightly colored, bright as an ornament in yellow, black and rose red. We have redirected visiting family members and neighbors to avoid disturbing Charlotte. She is not capable of inflicting harm on humans, according to what I read on public information sites and those of university biologists. Beides, who would intentionally pick up a spider? We all seem to share a common aversion to spiders. domen

Male and Female Joros. The males are dwarfed by the female spider. This photo taken in August is shows an immature female (l.). Photo by Joe Kitchens.

Charlotte’s tribe arrived a few years back, likely in a shipping container, and her cousins have occupied much of north Georgia. Capable of spreading into even colder climes, it is predicted Joros will reach Pennsylvania in a human generation or two. I would choose to stay in Georgia myself, but to each his (or her) own.

Charlotte is one of twelve Joros to build webs in my garden this year. They accomplish this by “ballooning”-riding the wind -on a single strand of golden silk. Once anchored, they begin to construct webs across distances of ten or twelve feet, typically spanning open airways between plants and structures, where flying insects become their prey.

They clearly can see. When I approach to within about a foot with my camera, they move away. Earlier in the summer the webs included a complement of half a dozen small male spiders. It can’t be certain why their number dwindled in September, but it seems likely they simply died or were eaten by Charlotte after fertilizing Charlotte’s thousand or so eggs.

Charlotte seems now to have vanished but is likely depositing her eggs in a safe, sheltered place, where the young will hatch and develop into adults over the colder months. It is unclear from my reading whether she will survive until the warm weather returns. I have noticed in fact that all the Joro “queens” seem to have disappeared from view in the course of only a few days, following our recent cold nights near the freezing mark. But Joros can withstand cold well. They are native to colder Asian places across China and Northern Japan I have read.

Soon the Waxwings will come and strip my holly tree of its berries, the passing flocks of finches will gorge on my bag of small seeds at out back steps. A threesome of Blue Birds were here briefly, checking out our Blue Bird house. I fancy they are parents with one of their offspring planning for a return to this nesting place again next spring.

They are tenacious and combative little birds. While they were here they dominated the feeder, fiercely defying the much larger Blue Jays (which are actually somewhat timid by nature). Bare winter trees and bright cold days will echo with the calls of Red Shouldered Hawks teaching their youngest to triangulate the game they must kill to survive, raptors and acrobats weaving through the silver limbs of the White Oaks and Poplars that line our creek. Timeout for the holidays and and maybe a snow. Spring will be announced by the mating laughter calls of the Piliated Woodpeckers who will fall in love with their own images reflected in our window panes. Then we begin the watch for the return of our Blue Birds and the reemergence of Charlotte and her children who have managed to survive the cold and rain of winter.