We also have very large Golden Orb-weaving spiders in the Blue
Mountains NSW (don't know if they're the same species as Belinda's)
and there seem to be an extra lot around this year.
Speaking of "bird eating spider", recently I watched a White-throated
Treecreeper eating a large Redback Spider.
Cheers,
Carol
At 10:10 PM +1100 15/3/08, Greg & Val Clancy wrote:
Hi Belinda,
The advice that you have received to not kill the spider is wise
advice. Even if it were to kill the occasional bird it wouldn't
deserve to be killed. Animals kill other animals in nature and as
long as it is a native species behaving naturally we shouldn't
interfere. Raptors kill other birds but we don't insist that they
be killed, although this was the thinking some decades back.
My spider book calls your spider 'Golden Orb-weaving Spider Nephila
maculata' the largest of the genus. I have found them as far south
as Coffs Harbour, NSW.
Greg Clancy
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