Battle of the Front Lawn - Spider vs Wasp

I did go birding today but it was not a productive day for pictures. Sometimes Carteret County can be amazing, and sometimes it can be like any other county.  I woke at 2 am and drove close to three hours to meet John and the gang for some birding at Cedar Island and then the plan was to use kayaks to check out some of the fringes of Cedar Island marsh and check a duck blind for a rumored Barn Owl.  The birds were ok but there was nothing really interesting save for two Pectoral Sandpipers at the ferry terminal which promptly disappeared before I could get my Phone Skope adapter from the car.  At 9:00 it felt like it was already in the 90's and there was almost no wind.  We walked to the end of the beach and back and by the time we got back my shirt was soaked with sweat.  I think the only 3 hours of sleep the night before and residual sunburn from yesterday were conspiring against me because I seemed to be faring worst then all the others despite being the youngest.  By the time we got to John Day ditch where we planned to launch the kayaks, most of us decided to pull the plug on the idea, It was simply too hot.  I think John would have gone but the rest of us were done.

This baby horse was the only picture I managed from this morning.

When I got home I replenished the bird feeders including the HB feeder and thought I might try a few pics.  I have about 4-5 Ruby-throats visiting my feeder now.

Young male?

Then out for the corner of my eye I saw a gray beast running towards me at frightening speed.  At first I thought it was coming for me and I almost started running away.  But then I saw this beast was not running at me, it was running away from a red devil.  When it realized running was futile, it decided to make a stand.  See if you can guess which one of these beasts was victorious, the spider or the wasp.

The battle raged on for what seemed like eons, but in reality was less than 30 seconds.

The spider was formidable but the wasp was obviously the aggressor.

At this point the spider was starting to appear sluggish, obviously feeling the effects of multiple stings.

The wasp was still running on a full tank, stinging relentlessly and not allowing the spider a chance to use it's deadly fangs.

At this point the death blows were being administered and the spider's will was being sapped from him like the victim of a vampire.

However this was no charismatic trance that the wasp was applying, this was a sinister poison designed to immobilize its prey but keep it alive.

It turns out this wasp has a lot in common with the aliens from the movie Alien.

Here you can see the wasp dragging the paralyzed spider back to her lair.

Back at the lair this evil mother will imbed her larvae who will use poor spider as a living meal to be eaten over a long time.

Meet Spider Wasp and her quarry the Carolina Wolf Spider (I think).

Pretty cool.