I’ve got several things in the works right now, but I’m not sure when I’ll finish any of them, so for now, a grab shot from just over a month ago, when the nights had turned dewy.
I have no idea what kind of spider spins this web, but I’ve seen this many times before, often of varying sizes. I’m always taken by the impression of a sailing ship, or schooner or something – boats are not my forté. There are always two distinct ‘structures’ to the webs, with a tighter and denser ‘hull’ below, often favoring one side with a prow-like protrusion instead of being symmetrical or random, and the upper ‘rigging’ section without masts or sails but still conveying that idea. Maybe it’s just me…
Someday, I’ll have to sit down and examine one closely, first to try and photograph the builder, but then to puzzle out the function of the entire structure – there must be purposes to the two different sections (and possibly more sections that I’ve never discerned.) While I am just fine with the aesthetics of such things, I’ll often find myself pondering the deeper questions after only a few moments of drinking in the visual aspects, noticing how the initial support threads dictate the shapes and recognizing that, despite the haphazard nature of most strands, this isn’t random, but an edifice with specific functions. Does it target certain insects? Does it protect against rain or predators better? Is this, like many other webs among arachnids, a breeding nest instead?
I realize that most of the questions are probably already answered, if I knew where to look – that’s where identifying the occupant(s) would help a lot. But for now, I present only the visual, and my curiosity.