Mystery spider! It looks very much like an orb weaver, but there are no green and yellow orb weavers in my Audubon Insect book- much less ANY green and yellow spiders in my book! Hmmmm...what could it be?
Well the experts and wise have directed me to the answer...behold the Venusta Orchard Spider. How he ended up in the Pennsy woods is beyond me, but I sure enjoyed taking his picture!
Venusta Orchard Spider would be my guess. They are so bright and colorful...yellow, white, black ....His web looks familiar too.....tight squares in center, then nothing, then rectangles out there on the outside. Nice photo!
@espyetta@maggiemae
Thanks MaryBeth and Maggie- we have a winner! How about that- there's not an orchard within 10 miles of here! But the colors are exactly the same and so is the body shape. MaryBeth, I knew you'd know what this was! And I'm pretty sure Kimmi Stephens will know too! Thanks again ladies!!
@kerristephens Thanks Kerri! @bkbinthecity Thanks Brian! @melorac Thanks Carole! @maggiemae Thank you so much Maggie!! And thanks for the follow! I'll be popping over to your shots in a while and returning the follow! I'm looking forward to seeing your shots!
@woot Davide, I am honored by your accolades! You are an awesome photographer, so I consider this such high praise and am humbled by it. @vickisfotos Thank you Vicki! I saw him yesterday and was glad he was still there today. He had spun his web in an old metal drum we once used for burning trash. It's all rusted out now and set at the back of our property because it has no other place to go! What you see as bokeh in this shot is actually the ground and the top rim of the drum.
Thanks to you both! As I thought about this shot I knew there were several approaches I could take, and that I was going to have to "fool" my macro setting on my camera since there were several things it might choose to focus on. I think I took about 20 different shots and 3 came out as I'd hoped, but this one really featured the spider the best. I know they call my little Canon a point and shoot- but sometimes it's just not that simple!
Great detail and bokeh. Isn't it amazing that @espyetta can tell us how this species creates its web and that all over its range these spiders will be fashioning identical webs?
Oh! Neat! Good shot! Now I'm creeped out twice. See my picture of the Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge venusta) today. One of us is mislabeled, so I will go back to Google. Mine was luck and camera... I don't think my hands were all that steady.
Perfect Capture Ann! No matter what kind it is, it is Beautiful and the Colors are awesome! Ive yet to capture a web or a spider for that matter!! In a web that is! Fav for me! Love it!
isn't nature wonderful? how each specie of spider is different just from the way it weaves its web, apart from its physical appearance. wonderful capture. i've never been successful with spiders and their webs. i like!
@sharritta Thank you sooo much Sharon! @groovygirlrn Thanks Sheri! It was a first for me too. @allie912 Thanks Allison- yes, I knew that either MaryBeth or Kimmi would be able to identify it right away! And any spider web is fascinating to me! @eudora Thanks Diane- it was a new one for me too! @kimmistephens Thanks Kimmi! @kaseycarroll Thank you Kasey! @digitalrn Thanks Rick! @dmariewms How about that!? What are the odds we would shoot the same spider on the same day? I'm looking forward to seeing yours now. @ellimae Thank you so much Ellen!! @summerfield Thanks Vikki. I am not a big fan of bug shots but this one was so unique it was worth taking- and I knew MaryBeth would be soooo proud of me!
@beachradish Thanks Beachradish. This little p & s of mine has a sweet spot when it comes to macro. If I hit it, the pictures are great! On this shot, it was a matter of tricking the camera to not focus on the web, but only on the spider. That involves moving the camera around until the best light is on the subject. The ins and outs of p & s! Not as easy as it sounds!
If I do a close up I have to center the subject to get the camera to cooperate, then I have to crop to frame it. My first little Kodak C183 does a better job on close ups, so I'm going to remember to take it into the yard with me. Who needs a longer zoom in a small yard?
@dmariewms I have tried that approach a couple times and it has worked, but sometimes cropping won't allow me to keep something in the shot that I want there. So, I've found that if I keep pressing the shutter down to tell the camera to focus, it eventually focuses on the part that I want it to. Yes, I know- strange and it really shouldn't work like that, but it does. @pandorasecho Thank you Dixie! @sarah19 Thank you Sarah- you are brave! I know, I'm not really crazy about spiders either- but I'll look at a spider picture any day over a snake picture! @salza Thanks Sally! @alia_801 Thanks Alia! @steeler Thanks Howard! @sangwann Thanks Dione! @sharritta Thanks Sharon. I don't have any watermark or signature on my photos, so I'm a little leery about putting them out on Pinterest. I've heard of so many photos being "stolen" from there. Do you find it's reputation is trustworthy? I mean I know this is no Ansel Adams shot! But I have started putting some photos in competition and I want to make sure my shots are "protected". I trust you, so if you think it's safe, go ahead. @mhatch Thanks Mark- it's very small! I live on the eastern side of PA, near the Delaware Water Gap and the city of Stroudsburg. @myautofocuslife Thank you Livia!
Oh a HUGE thank you to everyone!!! I can't believe this made the PP! And it's all because of you!!
@cottoncandy Thank you Mischell! @juleswoome Thank you Julie! I am not a big bug shot person- but when I saw his unique coloring I said to myself, "That spider is too interesting not to shoot!" @sailingmusic Thank you Myrna!! This is very exciting to me because bugs are not my area of expertise! @sharritta Thank you Sharon- I am honored that you wanted to put it up there! @automaticslim psychedelic or psycho-delic? (o: Thanks Automatic! @wenbow Thanks Wendy!
Thank you everyone! This has been an awesome week for me having both the corn shot and Mr. Spider landing on the PP. And it's all thanks to you!!
@newbie Thank you Stacey. I am not a big fan of spider either- but the colors on this one were too interesting to pass by. @woot Thank you Davide. It's been an exciting week- first the corn shot, then the spider. I just keep saying "Wow"! @gs365 Thanks Grant! Venusta Orchard Spider, aka Orchard Orbweaver, Leucauge Venusta according to folks wiser in spider identification than I.
Thanks MaryBeth and Maggie- we have a winner! How about that- there's not an orchard within 10 miles of here! But the colors are exactly the same and so is the body shape. MaryBeth, I knew you'd know what this was! And I'm pretty sure Kimmi Stephens will know too! Thanks again ladies!!
@bkbinthecity Thanks Brian!
@melorac Thanks Carole!
@maggiemae Thank you so much Maggie!! And thanks for the follow! I'll be popping over to your shots in a while and returning the follow! I'm looking forward to seeing your shots!
@vickisfotos Thank you Vicki! I saw him yesterday and was glad he was still there today. He had spun his web in an old metal drum we once used for burning trash. It's all rusted out now and set at the back of our property because it has no other place to go! What you see as bokeh in this shot is actually the ground and the top rim of the drum.
Thanks to you both! As I thought about this shot I knew there were several approaches I could take, and that I was going to have to "fool" my macro setting on my camera since there were several things it might choose to focus on. I think I took about 20 different shots and 3 came out as I'd hoped, but this one really featured the spider the best. I know they call my little Canon a point and shoot- but sometimes it's just not that simple!
@groovygirlrn Thanks Sheri! It was a first for me too.
@allie912 Thanks Allison- yes, I knew that either MaryBeth or Kimmi would be able to identify it right away! And any spider web is fascinating to me!
@eudora Thanks Diane- it was a new one for me too!
@kimmistephens Thanks Kimmi!
@kaseycarroll Thank you Kasey!
@digitalrn Thanks Rick!
@dmariewms How about that!? What are the odds we would shoot the same spider on the same day? I'm looking forward to seeing yours now.
@ellimae Thank you so much Ellen!!
@summerfield Thanks Vikki. I am not a big fan of bug shots but this one was so unique it was worth taking- and I knew MaryBeth would be soooo proud of me!
@pandorasecho Thank you Dixie!
@sarah19 Thank you Sarah- you are brave! I know, I'm not really crazy about spiders either- but I'll look at a spider picture any day over a snake picture!
@salza Thanks Sally!
@alia_801 Thanks Alia!
@steeler Thanks Howard!
@sangwann Thanks Dione!
@sharritta Thanks Sharon. I don't have any watermark or signature on my photos, so I'm a little leery about putting them out on Pinterest. I've heard of so many photos being "stolen" from there. Do you find it's reputation is trustworthy? I mean I know this is no Ansel Adams shot! But I have started putting some photos in competition and I want to make sure my shots are "protected". I trust you, so if you think it's safe, go ahead.
@mhatch Thanks Mark- it's very small! I live on the eastern side of PA, near the Delaware Water Gap and the city of Stroudsburg.
@myautofocuslife Thank you Livia!
Oh a HUGE thank you to everyone!!! I can't believe this made the PP! And it's all because of you!!
@juleswoome Thank you Julie! I am not a big bug shot person- but when I saw his unique coloring I said to myself, "That spider is too interesting not to shoot!"
@sailingmusic Thank you Myrna!! This is very exciting to me because bugs are not my area of expertise!
@sharritta Thank you Sharon- I am honored that you wanted to put it up there!
@automaticslim psychedelic or psycho-delic? (o: Thanks Automatic!
@wenbow Thanks Wendy!
Thank you everyone! This has been an awesome week for me having both the corn shot and Mr. Spider landing on the PP. And it's all thanks to you!!
@thrailkill Thanks Dwight!
Thank you both for stopping by to take a look!
@woot Thank you Davide. It's been an exciting week- first the corn shot, then the spider. I just keep saying "Wow"!
@gs365 Thanks Grant! Venusta Orchard Spider, aka Orchard Orbweaver, Leucauge Venusta according to folks wiser in spider identification than I.
@prttblues Thanks Bev- and all you had to do was look at it! I took the picture!
@saask Thank you Yvonne!