Orb Weaver (Araneus diadematus) in Action

Ah, autumn. When the days are warm, the nights are cool, and the garden spiders are large.

Female orb weaver spider waiting to catch something in October 2023

The video below is a female orb weaver (Araneus diadematus), a common spider here in North America as well as throughout Europe.

Females can get quite large — 2 inches (5 cm) across or more. This one is only 1 inch or so, but she’s still more than twice the size of any male she might meet.

She has a web strung from the top of the greenhouse to an orange tree 10 feet or so away. It’s 15 feet in the air and the web is more than 3 feet across.

I’ve seen all sorts of insects trapped in it, including a surprisingly large dragonfly, so I’m guessing the web is in a good location.

Now that it’s autumn, it’s heading into mating season and she’ll be on the lookout for a male.

It’ll be a bittersweet deal for the male, however. Once she’s done mating with him, she’ll kill and eat him.

(They didn’t mention that in Charlotte’s Web.)

 

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