I have a live and let live attitude about spiders, even ones I find in the house. If I can catch one in my little bug trapper I will release it outside rather than kill it. But I have to admit to pulling my hand back quickly yesterday when I saw this one hanging out on the rim of one of the birdbaths I was refilling.
I wasn’t going to stick my finger next to him for perspective, thank you. But he’s not as huge as he looks in this photo. He’s about the size of a thumbnail.
This is a juvenile Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax). Those little orange dots will turn white when the spider matures.
Bold Jumping Spiders are, like the name says, excellent jumpers. When they leap, they release a line of webbing to catch themselves in case their jump doesn’t quite work out as planned.
This hairy spider eats other insects and spiders (including some plant pests). In turn they are prey for birds, dragonflies, lizards and some wasps.
Bold Jumping Spiders are said to be shy when humans approach, and this one did try to hide when I was attempting to take his photo.
Here’s a fun fact about my new little garden friend. In 2021 the state of New Hampshire designated this spider as their state spider. Students at an elementary school helped draft the legislation after a week-long unit designed to reduce fear of spiders:
“Students researched various spiders before settling on the daring jumping spider — formal name Phidippus audax. They emphasized the fuzzy, quarter-sized spider’s winter hardiness, described it as “cute and colorful like New Hampshire’s trees in autumn” and evoked the state’s “Live Free or Die” motto in recounting how the spiders create “parachutes” to fly to new homes.“