Since I've been sharing photos of various bird nests, I think it is only fair I share a photo of some spider eggs...

The white ball behind this spider is full of thousands of tiny spider eggs. This mother wolf spider will carry it with her until they hatch, at which point the spiderlings will climb up on their mother's back to hitch a ride for a few days until they are ready to spread out on their own.

I've never managed to find a wolf spider carrying an egg sack before, so this was a bit of a treat for me. We stopped our work in the yard so I could get my camera and take some photos. I only managed to get three frames off before she bolted for cover and I lost her in the undergrowth, but luckily the shots I did get off turned out to be nice sharp images.

Technical Data: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in eTTL mode. Image Stabilization on. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

I'm trying to get caught up with processing photos, so hopefully I'll be able to continue sharing more springtime photos.

Stay tuned!

- Bill