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.