Kip’s Comments - August 24, 2023 — LadagePhotography.com

Backyard Predator

While watering trees this morning as the sun was coming up, many funnel spider webs were visible. Unless a person is out looking around when the sun is low on the horizon, you may not realize how many of the silky funnels are around you. Check your yard… you may have a bunch.

I moved from funnel web to funnel web looking for a hungry spider on guard within photography range. Only three of the webs had the owner nearby and of those, only two were somewhat worthy of imaging.

As I did my best to approach close enough for photos I was able to watch a couple of predator/prey relationships play out. Tiny insects landed or crawled on the webs and the spider quickly dashed out, captured, and consumed whatever the insect was. Their speed was impressive and very efficient. I am thankful we have these tiny creatures reducing the pesky insect population.

Following are a few images from this backyard hunt. Notice the spider in hiding in the wide view of the funnel web.