Last week I stopped on my way home from work to take some flower photos. To get to them I had to walk through a large patch of sand spurs, which are a grass that produces many stickery seeds in the fall. Had I realized that all those sand spurs were there before I stopped, I probably would have chosen a different place, but once I was there, I felt the need to do what I stopped for. It actually turned out to be kind of interesting because the sand spurs were filled with a bunch of good sized, brown moths. As I hiked through the sand spurs it flushed out the moths ahead of me. At one point I saw a sudden flash of movement in my peripheral vision. When I looked more closely, I realized that one of the moths had flown into a spider’s web. Just about as soon as the moth hit the web a large banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata) was on it. She grabbed it with her front legs and bit it. There was a very brief scuffle as the poor moth fought for its life, but the end was quick. Within seconds the moth was no longer moving at all and the spider had eased her grip. This photo was taken at that point. I have to say I felt kind of bad. I was the one that stirred up the moths, so I felt somewhat responsible for the poor things demise. I try to do no harm and to not harass my subjects when I’m taking photos, but sometimes things just happen. It could have happened the next time that the moth started to fly regardless of why. Or another moth, that was spared, would have ended up in the web. Who knows. And, after all, spiders need to eat, too.