Spiders are out building webs and getting in hikers’ faces pretty much all summer. But this time of year, moving from late summer into early autumn, it seems the big spiders are all building (typically) beautiful webs and making the most of the insect buffet.

I saw this pair of Yellow Garden Spiders (aka Writing Spiders) out on one of the local trails yesterday. They were hanging out in the sun on the edge of a meadow, maybe 3 feet from each other. One was going hungry, while another was enjoying a sizeable meal – a tiger swallowtail butterfly. These are big spiders (butterfly for reference) – about 2.75″ body with a 5″ leg spread – but fairly harmless to humans.

We also saw this rather macabre decoration. No signs of any spiders in sight, but something caught, killed, wrapped, and suspended this cicada. This is what I picture happened to the dwarves in Mirkwood. This cicada is about 2.5″ long, so…how big does a spider have to be before it gets a name?

Finally, these are older pictures – the light hasn’t been right to capture the current specimens – but we’ve got two of these setting up shop on our deck. They come out of hiding just as the sun is going down and start building beautiful webs. They’re Spotted Orb-Weavers, but we like to call them “pumpkin spiders”, both because they’re big, round and orange (bodies about the size of a quarter, with a 2.5″ leg spread, and jack-o-lantern markings), and because they seem to show up in mid-September through Halloween every year. These are a bit early this year.

Finally, as a bonus – no spider, but this is the type of thing the orb-weavers build. Beautiful, concentric symmetry. When they catch the sunlight or the early morning dew just right, they’re gorgeous. When they catch your face as you walk into them, they’re not so much…

Appreciate the 8-legged critters, and…

Get Out There!