More Science In Our Own Backyard

On June 10th I joined Emily in the backyard and found her messing around with a bee. This bee was on the ground, not easily flying away, and Emily was touching him with a leaf and such. I reminded her that we shouldn't play with bees but she had some explanation for why she needed to do it - she always does after all! Anyway, it wasn't long before I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. The bee had flown away but hadn't saved himself... he was stuck in a spider's web! I pointed it out to Emily and while we watched, the spider came down to greet the bee and started wrapping him up. So, it was the perfect time to talk to Emily about spiders, the purpose of their webs, and what they eat. I couldn't have planned it better, after wrapping the bee's body a few times the spider started to pull the bee back to his "kitchen" - a safe and secure spot under the water table.

I put the camera under and snapped a picture of the spider pulling in the bee...
and continuing the wrapping process.
Then, perhaps because he had just eaten that other thing in the picture, he waited. Or, he could have just been more concerned with watching what I was doing.
I started to explain to Emily about how some spiders inject their venom into the insect and then suck out the insides but decided to just go with "eat." Maybe when she turns 4. ;) She wouldn't have cared though, she just wanted a good look!

It was another great science lesson, and just for fun I checked in on our little spider and his prey yesterday. Looks like we missed meal time - hope that bee was yummy!
(Of course blogger won't support my video... separate post for that below.)