Recently I received a post from one of our fellow bloggers that lives in the Athens area voicing concern that spiders might pose a threat to hummingbirds. In response to her communication, I have tried to uncover any reports of hummingbirds being caught in the large, sticky webs constructed by Joro spiders.
For those of you that that are not familiar with the Joro spider, this large spider is native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. It first appeared in the United States in Hoschton, Georgia in 2013.
This long-legged foreign invader has spread rapidly and is now weaving their large, sticky webs in at last 25 counties in North Georgia. The spider has also been found in nearby South Carolina.
Experts tell us that Joro spiders do not eat birds. However, it is well known that hummingbirds are caught in the webs fashioned by a variety of native spiders. In such cases, unless an unfortunate hummingbird can break free or rescued, it dies of either from starvation or dehydration.
To date, I have not found any documentation of a hummingbird being caught in a Joro spider web. However, that does not necessarily mean that this does not occur. If you have seen and perhaps photographed such an event, please let me know.
SPIDER-JORO-2-Dorothy-Kozlowski-UGA-Sept-2021
Hi, Terry! I currently live in McDonough/Henry County. I have been seeing Joro Sliders around my yard for approximately three years now. They look quite intimidating, but they are fascinating as well. They are rather intelligent (or strategic) as they only weave their webs in my giant lantana bushes–and almost always in the same general spots. I have not seen any hummers get caught up in the webs–and hope I never do; however, my hummers frequently feed on my lantana bushes. It feels like it’s only a matter of time before I see one become trapped. Any suggestions as to whether or not I should free them from the webs webs? Thank you!
I would definitely free any hummingbirds you find caught in a web. I have done so with hummers caught in garden spider nests. Believe me it is a task to clean the birds’ wings of the web. It would also be a good idea to feed the cleaned birds before they are released.
Terry
Last fall 2022 we found a small dead ruby hummingbird wrapped up in a large Joro Spider web. Too bad we didn’t take a photo of that. This was near Cleveland GA.
Last year, I noticed a joro spider in the process of weaving a web near one of my hummer feeders. They are not a native species, so I had no emotional problem with getting rid of it.
I just freed a baby boy hummingbird from a Joro spider web.I did not take a picture, he was screaming and fighting to get loose, poor baby, It took a while to pick off all the webbing and smooth out his feathers-after being a little frantic in my hand he settled down and let me turn him every which way to free him. Luckily when I was done he flew away. I sweep the webs down daily that are around the house and in the flower beds but I missed this one. I live in Toccoa, Ga. I hate Joro spiders and kill as many as I can. They are not suppose to live here and are harmfull to our natives.
Susan,
The hummer you saved is one lucky bird. I have not heard anything new about the threat joro spiders pose to hummers, however, I believe it is greater than many believe. By reposting your response, hopefully others will provide info as t o how they are impacting their hummers. Thanks for your comments.
Perhaps I can provide some information about how Joro spiders adversely affect hummers: the first point is these huge spiders weave very large webs, and their “silk” is much stronger than the average spider. If you ever ran into one, you’ll know because you can literally hear snapping as they break.
Joros are very observant and intelligent creatures, and they weave their webs where their food of interest frequents. There have been numerous reports of hummers flying into Joro webs that are merely inches from nectar feeders. Hummers also encounter webs in large flowering bushes such as lantanas. Joro web silk is incredibly strong, and hummers fly right into the webs and cannot free themselves.
It pays to visit your feeders and bushes and remove the webs periodically. I hope this helps!
Hi there!
I was visiting Shawnee State park on 8/25/24
And found something so disturbing I feel I need to contact someone about! While out kyaking I found a small “tree island” that also looked like a bird sanctuary.. while looking closer I noticed these HUGE webs all over 2 huge trees on the island. As I paddled closer and I used my binoculars my husband and I noticed they were massive and I mean massive webs with dead birds all in them. The one web had 3 birds inside! There had to be about 30 of these webs in total with bird carcus’ in them. What spider could do this? And need this much food? I feel I need to contact someone before it gets even more out of control. My husband also witnessed how disturbing it was. Seriously horror movie film scary!
I also took plenty of photos I’d love to share your thoughts on!
I hope there is someway to post your photos. I also hope this serves as a reminder for everyone to remove these webs and destroy these spiders whenever they see them.