{"id":27037,"date":"2015-08-02T04:31:06","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T10:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=27037"},"modified":"2026-03-18T07:28:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:28:47","slug":"the-antelope-island-spiders-an-important-part-of-the-food-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/08\/02\/the-antelope-island-spiders-an-important-part-of-the-food-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Antelope Island Spiders – An Important Part of the Food Web"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WesternWestern Spotted Orbweaver with a bunch of captured Brine Flies<\/span><\/p>\n

This coming Saturday, August 8, 2015, is the date of the annual Spider Festival on Antelope Island State Park and there should be plenty of spiders to be seen, almost a bumper crop of them! I was out on the island twice last week and there were spiders nearly everywhere I looked. And of course I had to photograph some of them.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Spotted Orbweaver with a captured Brine Fly<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the webs I saw near the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake had plenty of brine flies in them and believe me the spiders won’t even make a dent in the billions of brine flies that there are along the shore of the lake.<\/p>\n

\"DeadDead Brine Fly and a Western Spotted Orbweaver<\/span><\/p>\n

The spiders feed on insects that they capture in their webs. I know some people find spiders a bit creepy but they do a lot of good too by eating annoying insects like wasps and the brine flies.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Spotted Orbweaver creating a web<\/span><\/p>\n

Personally I am more of a lover of the spiders because they are a part of the natural food chain or web. They eat smaller insects and in turn they become food for birds.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Spotted Orbweaver with the Great Salt Lake in the background<\/span><\/p>\n

There are birds species that nest on the island that bring the spiders to their young to eat. But even they don’t make a dent in the huge number of spiders on the island.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Prairie Falcon resting on a rock<\/span><\/p>\n

And those smaller birds are consumed by the raptors that prey on them. So the next time you see a Prairie Falcon or an American Kestrel on the island you just might want to thank the spiders for being a critical part of the food web. The Antelope Island Spiders creep some people out but I appreciate them for being a part of why the island is so birdy.<\/p>\n

Mark your calendars for the 8th of August if you would like to learn more about the spiders on Antelope Island at the festival<\/span><\/a>! Activities start at 11 am and go until 6 pm. For more information call (801) 721-9569.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Western Spotted Orbweaver photos and here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my insect and spider galleries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This coming Saturday, August 8, 2015, is the date 0f the annual Spider Festival on Antelope Island State Park and there should be plenty of spiders to be seen, almost a bumper crop of them! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,5310,1022,1095,26,1174],"tags":[3922,3919,3921,2663,4229,4232,4231,4278,4078,4279,3920,2617,3901,2381,4293],"class_list":["post-27037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-brine-flies","category-davis-county-utah","category-prairie-falcons","category-utah","category-western-spotted-orbweaver","tag-arachnids","tag-arachnophilia","tag-biodiversity","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-brine-fly","tag-ephydra-cinerea","tag-ephydra-hians","tag-falco-mexicanus","tag-falcon","tag-falcons","tag-food-web","tag-prairie-falcon","tag-spider","tag-spiders","tag-western-spotted-orbweaver"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/western-spotted-orbweaver-mia-mcpherson-8000.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-725","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53031,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/07\/10\/spiders-of-antelope-island-they-arent-so-creepy\/","url_meta":{"origin":27037,"position":0},"title":"Spiders Of Antelope Island – They Aren’t So Creepy","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year in August Antelope Island has a SpiderFest where there are walks and talks about the spiders of that live on the island, I love photographing them and they really aren't so creepy as they seem to be.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Western Spotted Orbweaver and friend, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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Spider Fest On August 3, 2019","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark your calendars because there is a yearly Spider Festival on Antelope Island State Park and this year the festival is being held next Saturday on August 3, 2019.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Western Spotted Orbweaver with her prey, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/western-spotted-orbweaver-prey-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/western-spotted-orbweaver-prey-mia-mcpherson-6014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"August 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the day for SpiderFest on Antelope Island State Park, a celebration of the interesting spiders that live on the island.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Western Spotted Orbweaver in her web, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/western-spotted-orbweaver-mia-mcpherson-8556.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/western-spotted-orbweaver-mia-mcpherson-8556.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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