Photos of a mammoth spider devouring a bird in a Queensland backyard are sweeping email inboxes and according to experts, it's all real.

The photos which are reported to have been taken this week in Atherton, west of Cairns show the spider clenching its legs around a lifeless bird trapped in a web.


Head spider keeper at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford on NSW central coast, Joel Shakespeare, said the spider was a Golden Orb Weaver.

"Normally they prey on large insects it's unusual to see one eating a bird," he told ninemsn.

Mr Shakepeare said he had seen Golden Orb Weaver spiders as big as a human hand but the northern species in tropical areas were known to grow larger.

Queensland Museum identified the bird as a native finch called the Chestnutbreasted Mannikin.

The bird, which appears frozen in an angel-like pose, most likely flew into the web and got caught, according to Mr Shakepeare.

"It wouldn't eat the whole bird," he said.

But the spider would probably prepare a liquid soup with the finch as it does with insects and discard of what it doesn't need.

More:http://www.news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=651337