Spider Webs — The 21st Century Matriarch

Last week on a foggy morning, my husband commented that there was a large spider web on our mailbox. I went out to investigate. Sure enough – it was easy to spot.

The fog had left water droplets on the strands of silk. Making it more visible.

As I zoomed in – they looked more and more like beads on a string.

I noticed another web over the mailbox. It was not as organized and the camera had a challenge to focus on anything as I zoomed in. I wonder if the organization of the web indicated it was a different kind of spider than the one that built the web below.

There were different webs in the azalea near our porch but they had caught the fog as well. The webs look like gauzy nets. These spiders had evidently had recent success and were working to wrap up their prey. As I was photographing these webs, I felt a tickly on my right leg – and discovered a small ant was crawling around. Then I looked at my left leg…and there were 12 or more ants! I cut the photography session short and brushed the ants off and put baking soda water on my legs even though – amazingly – I don’t think the ants stung me at all.