Halloween came early yesterday morning in the form of this dew-laden spider web, which appeared to be about three feet at its longest point:
This masterpiece of engineering and construction is even more astonishing when you consider that the top of that spruce that you see is about 40 feet high. And the web’s anchoring lines among three trees were 20 or more feet long. (Image taken from a 2nd floor window.)
This is most likely the creation of an orb-weaving spider, although a few other spider species make similar webs. From what I’ve read and seen, the spider usually floats a line on the wind to another surface, such as a branch. It fastens the line and then floats another line from its center to another surface, making a "Y." It then lays in the remaining scaffolding radii made of non-sticky silk to climb on. When done, it uses this framework to repeat the process with a sticky silk spiral to capture prey, leaving a few non-sticky lines to move on.
(Image taken in Brooklin, Maine, on July 9, 2024.)