Orchard Spider

A female Orchard Spider, Leucage venusta, works her webbing. These are exquisite creatures, and you've undoubtedly got them in your local patch. Orchard Spiders are very common, and can easily be spotted by their largish orb webs which are always constructed at an oblique angle. Not vertical, not horizontal, but in between. The spider typically builds her silken trap down low, where we can admire it.

If you do see an Orchard Spider web, take time to admire the occupant. She is a work of art in lemon, emerald, and black. Note how the spider in this photo is paying out a line of silk from her spinneret, and guiding its placement with one of her rear legs. Spiders certainly rank high among the world's most dexterous and coordinated animals!

This Orchard Spider was shot last Saturday in Adams County, using a Canon 5D Mark III with Canon 430 Speedlite muted with a Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce diffuser. Settings: F/11; 1/80 sec; ISO 800; handheld.