Mary O'Byrne, Bird-poop spider; egg sac hideaway and the fly that came to stare (ANIMALS 2026)

This female Bird-poop spider came to reside on a Diosma bush in my Kinross garden (WA) for a whole six months; hardly ever moved; relied on wafting front legs as it specialised in catching male moths by releasing female moth pheromones into the air overnight. Most mornings, I'd find it de-juicing a male moth whilst up to three others were awaiting dispatch strung up onto a web anchor line. It was really methodical in its work. Every couple of weeks it 'manufactured' and filled an egg sac; then looked after the sac(s), but also used the sacs as daylight camouflage from the small birds... occasionally I'd see a fly staying nearby - but the spider wasn't ever interested in them.

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