Sometimes you can't see the trees for the forest.
And sometimes you can't see the spider at all in a purple forest.
Such was the case this week when a tiny white crab spider cunningly figured out the best place to prey was in a flowering artichoke.
At first the spider crawled on top of the thistle, as honey bees dived in and out, threading through the petals, foraging for nectar and pollen. Did the bees spot the predator? If they did, they paid no attention. They were acting like kids jumping into a pool on a triple-digit temperature day on the first day of summer.
Then the spider slipped over to the edge of the purple forest and hid in the shadows. There it reigned supreme, Purple Reign. Unseen, and out of the heat.
Score:
Crab Spider: 3
Honey Bees: 0
Three sisters became breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Hunger in a purple forest.
Attached Images:
A honey bee visiting a flowering artichoke. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Packing white pollen, a honey bee makes a return visit to the flowering artichoke while she cleans her proboscis (tongue). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two honey bees are dusted with pollen from the flowering artichoke. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bee-ware! A honey bee touches down--nearly on a tiny crab spider. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)