What are those dingy greenish pearls dangling in this spider web? I wondered for years. Then, finally, this summer, I caught one, in a photo anyway—a tiny bifurcate trashline orb weaver— perfectly camouflaged among her jewels.
Author: M. Kathy Raines
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Carpenter-Bee-photo-3-800x600.jpg)
Bzzzzz! scolded a plump black bee, swooping and darting at me as I hacked at the last stump of an unwanted bougainvillea. Yikes! I sped
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Gray-catbird2-800x600.jpg)
A cry of “Mwee! Mwee!” sends an earnest cat-lover, shouting, “Here, kitty, kitty!” scrambling into bushes after a lost, forlorn kitten. But, no, it’s a
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Harlequin-Flower-Beetle-672x600.jpg)
The ornate creature in the soil-filled crotch of our ash tree appeared to be a decorated rock or a lost jewel, a pendant perhaps. Never
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/orb-weaver.jpg)
“I’m going out to check on my spiders!” I declared as I traipsed into the darkness for one last look at backyard wildlife. No, of
![](https://rgvctmn.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/an-immense-world-516x600.jpg)
I heartily recommend this new book, An Immense World, by Ed Yong (published in 2022, 464 pages), which explores the umwelten, or sensory worlds, of various