‘It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a…spider?’

Arachnids arrive in Texas during spring

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Wendy Guatemala, Writer

Flying spiders are arriving in Texas, specifically North Texas. These spiders fly by using their silky threads and pointing in a direction that the late spring winds take them. The process they use with their silk is called ballooning. Both new and adult spiders use this process for traveling to places. When wind currents pass, the spiders release their silk and “fly.”

While in the air, the spiders and silk look like balloons in the sky. Once they release their silk, it turns into a launchpad that helps them fly for thousands of miles. Some spiders can be seen by airplane pilots 10,000 feet in the air.

These spiders can sense the Earth’s electric field and they also use it to fly through the air. The electric fields prompt the spiders to start tiptoeing, which is when the spiders are standing on the ends of their legs with their abdomen in the air.

Click to read more about Flying spiders in Texas.