June 22, 2005

From time to time, I visit the brushy area that borders the Cooper River in search of banana spiders and interesting angles for capturing the Ravenel bridge. In early June, I found what I thought were some juvenile banana spiders - shown here. Note the coloration is auite different from that of the mature spider.

August 14, 2005

Now that the Ravenel Bridge has been open for about about a month, I wanted to explore the spider garden along the Cooper River. I was not disappointed. Lots of females and a number of webs with both male and female spiders. Here is a female.

Here is a much smaller male

Another male

Another female

And here is the puzzle. Almost always the male is oriented perpendicular to the female. I suppose to keep an eye on her - as she likes tasty treats after mating.

Again note how the male is almost always perpendicular to the female

There were also some delicate flowers in the field between the road and the spider garden

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C. Frank Starmer