# Chicago's flying spiders **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381 "2011-06-14T01:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/1 "2011-06-14T01:17:39Z")
In late spring, as I understand it, hundreds of thousands of spiders born in Michigan cross the lake “on gossamer wings” and land on Chicago highrises. Roughly 20 percent of them then promptly spin webs in my apartment. I just wonder if anyone knows the species and whether I should worry about picking them up with my fingers so I can toss them back out the window into the trees below. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/2 "2011-06-14T04:39:23Z")
Are you trying to effin’ FREAK ME OUT OF MY MIND? Flying SPIDERS? WTF? Seriously, I too notice the uptick in the spider population on my balcony and yes I live in a highrise right along the lakefront. No idea where they come from but they do keep the mosquito population kinda in check. And in my experience they are not just along the lakefront. I have seen them as far inland as Ravenswood around the same time. No idea where they come from though. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/3 "2011-06-14T05:08:15Z")
Hmm… I shouldn’t have to worry, I’m not that close to the Lake… > [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > I have seen them as far inland as Ravenswood around the same time. I’m locking my doors and sealing my windows. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/4 "2011-06-14T14:25:33Z")
[The Field Museum of Chicago has your answer:](http://www.fmnh.org/research_collections/ask_scientist.htm) [QUOTE] Well, they sort of “fly” up there. Baby spiders often release silk from their spinnerets to create a balloon-like contraption. The spiders then use these contraptions to hitch rides on uplifting air currents. The specific spider that lives on your window is probably a Larinioides sclopetaria, an orb-weaving spider that is found throughout the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. In more natural environments, these spiders live on rocks overhanging water. In the city, they have found the next best thing: tall buildings and high-rises. What makes these buildings so appealing is that the light shining through our windows attracts an enormous amount of insects, providing the spiders with a delicious nightly feast. Petra Sierwald Adjunct Curator, Insects[/QUOTE ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/5 "2011-06-14T23:43:39Z")
[quote=“Muffin, post:4, topic:585381”] [The Field Museum of Chicago has your answer:](http://www.fmnh.org/research_collections/ask_scientist.htm) [QUOTE] Well, they sort of “fly” up there. Baby spiders often release silk from their spinnerets to create a balloon-like contraption. The spiders then use these contraptions to hitch rides on uplifting air currents. The specific spider that lives on your window is probably a Larinioides sclopetaria, an orb-weaving spider that is found throughout the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. In more natural environments, these spiders live on rocks overhanging water. In the city, they have found the next best thing: tall buildings and high-rises. What makes these buildings so appealing is that the light shining through our windows attracts an enormous amount of insects, providing the spiders with a delicious nightly feast. Petra Sierwald Adjunct Curator, Insects [/QUOTE[/QUOTE] IANAE (entomologist)😉 We have spiders that utilize the same method, the only difference I can note is the ones I’ve noticed release one long (3-6 foot) strand of web. I’ve heard it referred to as “ballooning”, (sorry…no cite) and I think it’s a fairly common method (baby)spiders have, of relocating. 🙂 My location = Houston, Texas ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/6 "2011-06-15T00:59:13Z")
You can see a video of the phenomenon [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYI67g8YRUo), made by a guy in Texas. It’s home-made, so it’s not exactly National Geographic quality, but you can definitely see a few coming in, and at the very end you also see one take off again. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/7 "2011-06-15T07:15:46Z")
> [@Petra Sierwald(via Muffin)](#): > > Baby spiders often release silk from their spinnerets to create a balloon-like contraption. The spiders then use these contraptions to hitch rides on uplifting air currents. > [@JBDivmstr](#): > > I’ve heard it referred to as “ballooning”, (sorry…no cite) and I think it’s a fairly common method (baby)spiders have, of relocating. 🙂 Did none of you read/watch that _Charlotte’s Web_ documentary as youngsters? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/8 "2011-06-15T20:27:54Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Did none of you read/watch that _Charlotte’s Web_ documentary as youngsters? Apparently not. :rolleyes: Didn’t realize there _ **was** _ one, actually. :dubious: Did I just get “whooshed”? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/9 "2011-06-15T22:33:52Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Apparently not. :rolleyes: > > Didn’t realize there _ **was** _ one, actually. :dubious: > > Did I just get “whooshed”? I was perhaps whooshing by calling _Charlotte’s Web_ a documentary, but this phenomenon (baby spiders ballooning out to see the world) is a plot point at the end of the book and the movie. Maybe I’ve overestimated how ubiquitous the book is for kids. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/10 "2011-06-20T22:09:59Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > I was perhaps whooshing by calling _Charlotte’s Web_ a documentary, but this phenomenon (baby spiders ballooning out to see the world) is a plot point at the end of the book and the movie. Maybe I’ve overestimated how ubiquitous the book is for kids. Indeed; it’s the emotional climax of the story. [JBDivmstr](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) must not have ever read the book. I know I cried my eight-year-old eyes out (the rest of me was eight too; this is not some creepy organ transplant story) as Charlotte’s children flew away, climbing up the fencepost and calling “Goodbye” to Wilbur as their web balloons caught the breeze…abandoning poor bereft Wilbur in his grief and solitude… and the palpable relief when three of Charlotte’s children chose to stay. So, yeah, the lesson is… if your spider friend gives you a bunch of her eggs to raise before she dies, you can expect the ungrateful little arachnid bastards to abandon you on the first breeze. I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicagos-flying-spiders/585381/11 "2011-06-30T19:56:15Z")
I’m pretty good with the book, but that movie that came out a few years ago kicked me in the hinder but good. My last job (You know, before I was an Intergalactic Gladiator…) was a satelite technician and I had a call on top of the John Hancock once. The roof was covered with spiders who had ballooned over from Indiana. You have to wonder what they eat up there. I imagine they eat each other at some point, but there’s some kind of limit to that. I also saw a preying mantis on another downtown roof and I’m not sure how that got up there. It wasn’t moving so well, either, because of the cold.