a basket of peaches

a basket of peaches

blushing pink -- but this white spot?

tiny crab spider

A windfall peach gouged by deer teeth is my signal to start picking our peaches. The laden branches are bending nearly to the ground, making it easy for both me and the deer to reach the fuzzy golden orbs. I quickly fill two bushel baskets. In the process of transferring the ripe fruit into a smaller basket to take inside, I notice a small white spot on the blushing face of one of the peaches. 
          Bending close, I see that it's a tiny crab spider, furiously waving four of its legs in an attempt to scare me off. This makes me laugh. I must be thousands of times bigger than this minuscule organism, but nevertheless it's defending itself against a perceived threat. When I pick up the peach, the spider dives for safety, lowering itself on a silken dropline from the peach face to the ground and the obscurity of grass.
          These particular crab spiders (Araneae thomisidae) are ambush predators, sitting on a giant peach, ready to grab a visiting insect and such out its insides. They come in a variety of colors, from pure white, to black with a white bottom, and brown with a black bottom. Each crab look-alike reacts to motion in the same way: flap four legs frantically, scuttle sideways, skydive.