Day 377 Bold One

Bold One

Leaning back, crouching 

down, the bold one patiently 

waits to pounce on prey.

Phidippus audax
Bold Jumping Spider
Our Nickname: Oscar

Sheri Edwards
032521 08436521
Poetry / Photography

Daily Note

Every day, a photograph, a poem. Today, as my husband left for a brief drive up to our business building[closed to the public, except by appointment with masks required], he called out to me from the front steps, “I just saw Oscar.”

On the front porch I found the creature, a bold jumping spider, Phidippus audax, whom we always name “Oscar.” The can get quite large, about a 1/2 inch body and their furriness makes them look scary. They often live in our living room window and spend their lives catching the ugly bugs that find their way into our homes: flies, bees, wasps. Those uglies always fly to the light of the window, where “Oscar” gives them their due and eats them for dinner.

They are harmless to humans– although, should they feel threatened and bite you, it would really sting. So, since they are one of the most helpful of spiders for their voracious appetite on bugs that could harm us, we let the ones that find their way to our window stay as our pet, Oscar.

Once, long ago, my son visited and I had just begun to tell him about our new pet when he jumped up quickly yelling, “Oh my god,” grabbing a newspaper, and swatted our new pet. “You had a huge spider in your window!”

It was shocking to us and it happened so fast. Had he been looking at me instead of enjoying the light from the window, that Oscar would have survived. This is now the family story: Greg kills our pet spider just as I was introducing him to it. I still feel badly.

Today I watched as Oscar stalked and pounced on his prey, then carried it off to eat dinner in the shade of the front door. Here’s part of his journey, carrying his dinner:

How friendly are you to spiders that don’t hurt you?