August 10, 2007: Stuck hummingbird

Undertoad · 08-10-2007, 07:32 AM

EHOWA is rarely linked by IotD but here's an interesting one. xoB finds this item of a hummingbird who was forced to remain motionless for the pics... when it got caught in a spider web. The full story from the photographer:

Quote:

I took these while in California back in June. The humming bird was bouncing around up in the loft in the first pic like a fly on a window. I went up with a laundry basket and a towel to try to catch him, I was trying to trap him in the skylight on the right and then he just kind of stopped on the left and hovered there. Not like they normally hover, he was stuck in this bigass spider web. The bird was totally calm and totally stuck also. I trapped him in a towel and spent about 5 minutes plucking the web off of his wings. After I got all of the crap off, I gave him to my daughter to let go. He's still out there somewhere...

xoxoxoBruce · 08-10-2007, 07:39 AM

I'd guess that if the Hummer was outside it would easily fly through a web. But hovering up against the skylight, with no momentum, it just got more tangled and more tired.

Savannh · 08-10-2007, 09:13 AM

Aww... I'm glad this had a happy ending. My favourite birds, bar none. I love sitting in the back yard, and being visited by the hummers as they check out my plants.

Rexmons · 08-10-2007, 09:39 AM

hummers are my favorite too

Boo_Dreadly · 08-12-2007, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rexmons

hummers are my favorite too

Shawnee123 · 08-10-2007, 09:42 AM

lol @ rex.

I've been trying to lure hummingbirds to my feeder all summer. No luck.

Silazius · 08-10-2007, 09:58 AM

I'll have a breast...and a wing and thigh and leg--they are kinda small.

runswithknives · 08-10-2007, 12:25 PM

Is it just me or are those little girls hands kinda beefy?

Sarasvati48 · 08-10-2007, 01:39 PM

No, a hummingbird cannot fly easily thru a spider web. Spiders catch hummers all the time. Webs have the tensial strength of steel. I'm sure there are plenty of pics on the web of hummers being eaten by spiders...

xoxoxoBruce · 08-10-2007, 02:57 PM

Really? I've never seen one of those pictures. We did have pictures, that a member took and posted, of a hummer being caught and eaten by a Praying Mantis.

Tensile strength of steel means nothing but the resistance to breaking with a steady straight line pull. Any vector from that state, such as shearing, all bets are off. Also, in order to have a tensile pull, the thread must be firmly attached. In the case of spider webs, it would depend on glue being stronger than the web.

The success of webs is dependent on the speed of the spiders attack. Larger insects and bees, routinely escape from webs, if the spider isn't available or fast enough.

SeanAhern · 08-17-2007, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Tensile strength of steel means nothing but the resistance to breaking with a steady straight line pull. Any vector from that state, such as shearing, all bets are off.

True. But with a spider web, any force on it is going to turn into a tensile force pretty much immediately. To shear a spider web strand, you'd have to have some way to keep the strand pointed one direction while applying force in another. Since the strand is, for all intents and purposes, a 1-dimensional object, it's going to be pulled parallel to your force vector immediately and your force will become purely tensile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Also, in order to have a tensile pull, the thread must be firmly attached. In the case of spider webs, it would depend on glue being stronger than the web.

Now that's interesting. Given a force upon a single spider web strand, what is the material that holds it to the tree/brick/wall/branch that it's attached to? And what is that material's tensile strength? If it's knotted and twisted web strands, we're back to the tensile strength issue. If it's something else (glue?), we have a new set of possible failure modes.

Interestingly enough, there are types of steel that are stronger than spider web. Piano wire, for instance. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensile...sile_strengths.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-17-2007, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanAhern

True. But with a spider web, any force on it is going to turn into a tensile force pretty much immediately. To shear a spider web strand, you'd have to have some way to keep the strand pointed one direction while applying force in another. Since the strand is, for all intents and purposes, a 1-dimensional object, it's going to be pulled parallel to your force vector immediately and your force will become purely tensile.

Yes, but we weren't talking about the pictures. Sarasvati48 was questioning my statement;

Quote:

I'd guess that if the Hummer was outside it would easily fly through a web. But hovering up against the skylight, with no momentum, it just got more tangled and more tired.

Shawnee123 · 08-10-2007, 03:06 PM

oh crap i just tried to google "spider eating hummingbird" but i couldn't bear to look at the spider pics.

xoxoxoBruce · 08-10-2007, 03:43 PM

Well, I found one that was labeled a tarantula eating a humming bird but the picture shows it's actually a frog of some sort.
Hell, there are spiders big enough to eat chickens, but catching them in a web, is quite another matter.

Dypok · 08-10-2007, 09:29 PM

Goliath Bird Eating Spider, I think the largest species of spider in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_eating_spider

Edit: Oh Jesus, don't stray far from that page. The pics are shivers on a stick.

08-10-2007, 07:39 AM	#2
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	I'd guess that if the Hummer was outside it would easily fly through a web. But hovering up against the skylight, with no momentum, it just got more tangled and more tired. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

08-10-2007, 09:39 AM	#4
Rexmons - Kavkaz United - Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 613	hummers are my favorite too __________________ "Life's a bitch but God forbid the bitch divorce me..."

08-10-2007, 09:42 AM	#6
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	lol @ rex. I've been trying to lure hummingbirds to my feeder all summer. No luck. __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

08-10-2007, 01:39 PM	#9
Sarasvati48 Mystical Miscreant Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 46	Spider webs No, a hummingbird cannot fly easily thru a spider web. Spiders catch hummers all the time. Webs have the tensial strength of steel. I'm sure there are plenty of pics on the web of hummers being eaten by spiders...

08-10-2007, 02:57 PM	#10
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Really? I've never seen one of those pictures. We did have pictures, that a member took and posted, of a hummer being caught and eaten by a Praying Mantis. Tensile strength of steel means nothing but the resistance to breaking with a steady straight line pull. Any vector from that state, such as shearing, all bets are off. Also, in order to have a tensile pull, the thread must be firmly attached. In the case of spider webs, it would depend on glue being stronger than the web. The success of webs is dependent on the speed of the spiders attack. Larger insects and bees, routinely escape from webs, if the spider isn't available or fast enough. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

08-10-2007, 09:13 AM	#3
Savannh Lead Subordinate Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Victoria, BC Canada Posts: 15	Aww... I'm glad this had a happy ending. My favourite birds, bar none. I love sitting in the back yard, and being visited by the hummers as they check out my plants.

08-10-2007, 09:58 AM	#7
Silazius Sibling of the Commonweal Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Lansdowne, PA Posts: 16	I'll have a breast...and a wing and thigh and leg--they are kinda small.

08-10-2007, 12:25 PM	#8
runswithknives syl·la·ble Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Redondo Beach, Ca Posts: 33	Is it just me or are those little girls hands kinda beefy?

08-10-2007, 03:06 PM	#13
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	oh crap i just tried to google "spider eating hummingbird" but i couldn't bear to look at the spider pics. __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

08-10-2007, 03:43 PM	#14
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Well, I found one that was labeled a tarantula eating a humming bird but the picture shows it's actually a frog of some sort. Hell, there are spiders big enough to eat chickens, but catching them in a web, is quite another matter. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

08-10-2007, 09:29 PM	#15
Dypok Fuel the body, build the muscle, burn the fat, free the mind Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 27	Goliath Bird Eating Spider, I think the largest species of spider in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_eating_spider Edit: Oh Jesus, don't stray far from that page. The pics are shivers on a stick. __________________ There follows an untranslatable play on words with the use of local idiomatic expressions.

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