Banana Spider

[Don Ellis]

I've visited the banana grove many times over the past year and have never seen a spider. So I was surprised to see a large web on Monday morning. Climbing up on a couple of three-foot stacks of big concrete plates whose instability made it a bit like surfing, I stared at the web from about two foot away and wondered where its resident was. All of a sudden this beast crawled straight up a webline from crotch level to right in front of my nose. Aiyaa! as we say in Hong Kong.



If this guy were to lie flat, he'd be about ten inches in diameter. Because of the light, you can't really tell here, but he could have been a role model for Alien. I pointed him out to Leela who then pointed to another part of the grove where she spotted his mate... and high up in the mate's web was a tiny (one inch) offspring. So we have a family now. As a friend of my noted, that makes him a whole lot less sinister.



Hopefully they'll hang around long enough for me to take some more photos. The problem here is adequate light and location -- they're nearly out of reach and the slab perch is always precarious. We'll see...

==============================

On a web design note, the overall Kleptography redesign is finally finished. I spent parts of the last four days coding Next and Previous links for every picture and now have the luxury of being able to tweak at my leisure and perhaps take a few more photos.

Thanks again to everyone who, in a separate thread, offered comments, criticism, advice and recommendations. I'm sure the compromise solution has something to annoy everyone.

Cheers,

Don
www.kleptography.com

[Drk Orange]

If it is an orb weaver, which is what it looks like, the small one would be the male and the large ones the females.

In Australia, at least, the females are 6" fingertip to fingertip, while the males are the size of a fruitfly.

Here is what ours look like:

[marie]

they are beautiful shots Don.

your spiders (and their surroundings in the blurred background ) are different from ours.
they had to be ( being a banana grove)
not many have that scene in their back garden


the first fellow looks as though he is playing the strings.
only thing missing is the sound of music

in the second......... 'oh what a tangled web we weave' comes to mind
8)
lovely detail

'if that guy was to lie flat ' .......... he would be in deep trouble and would be walked on

they are great close ups.
I love good shots of spiders.
it's a great thrill to find them at all. especially in a good web

I have'nt seen too many around here lately.
usually at this time of year there are some to be seen on the bushes in the back garden .
and on the high wall they hang down and out
but I don't see the ' usual ' web ....or any spider ..yet ....this year

[marie]

great spider shot there Drk Orange

[ecobo]

Interesting objects for photography. Here, in Bulgaria, we have not creatures like these
Very good photos with pleasant green bokeh.

[marie]

Originally Posted by ecobo

Interesting objects for photography.

Here, in Bulgaria, we have not creatures like these

we feel sorry for you only having these other kind of creatures frolicing all around

http://www.photography-on-the.net/fo...ad.php?t=36754

[ecobo]

Marie wrote:
we feel sorry for you only having these other kind of creatures frolicing all around

Thanks God! I can live without spiders, but the other creatures...

[Mills]

Good Stuff. I really like the second one.

[throughlens]

Nice photos, the details of the spider in the macro are amazing...

Look at this one that I take, it was amazing to me!: Night spider in his web catch and eats a black bug
(There's an icon where you can see the full size photo to see the details of the spider)

[canonloader]

As a friend of my noted, that makes him a whole lot less sinister.

I see you cloned out the wrapped up 6 year old kid he had caught.