People across the Bay Area noticing web-like substances drifting through the air or landing in their cities Wednesday are seeing a process called “ballooning,” according to an entomologist from San Jose State University.
Ballooning refers to when baby spiders are first born, they release tiny strands of silk and then use it to float away to find new areas to find food or places to live.
Fred Larabee is an entomologist and professor of biology at San Jose State University and believes the wind, coupled with spiders' ability to sense electric fields, have something to do with it.
“Both the wind is definitely dragging them and affects the directionality of where they’re going. But then also, they absolutely can sense these electric fields,” he said. “They have very specialized structures on their legs that are attuned to these electric fields; they respond to them. So we know that they can detect them, and so it seems very likely that both of those things are happening.”
NBC Bay Area viewers across the South Bay and East Bay, as well as the Peninsula and San Francisco have reported seeing the process.
Larabee says the webs are not a problem and he’s encouraging everyone to look for the white globs and figure out what types of spiders might be inside.
He says the early Halloween decorations could be a fun opportunity for everyone to learn more about spiders.
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