NOTE: IN ORDER TO BETTER SEE PHOTOS IN THEIR FULL 1600 PX. RESOLUTION, VIEW THEM IN THE ALBUM FORMAT BY CLICKING ON THE LEAD PHOTO OR ANY PHOTO IN THE POST. This is especially true for landscape shots. Thanks to Mark for the idea of adding this alert so the photos can be seen at their best!

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Gossamer Morning

On one of my morning walks through the marsh here in North Carolina the world of spiders was magically revealed thanks to rain during the night.


I hadn't seen a single web when I'd walked the same path before, but now there were glistening webs everywhere I looked.


The variety was endless, from shimmering spiral orb webs to dome and funnel webs.


Spiders produce silk from their spinneret glands located at the tip of their abdomen.


However, constructing the web is in itself a costly process because of the large amount of protein required to make the silk. The silk will lose its stickiness and become inefficient at capturing prey but the spiders can recoup some of the energy by eating their own webs.


Most of the webs I saw were abandoned, luckily more webs than spiders!



3 comments:

  1. Oh, what beautiful works of Nature's art! I love those photos, and I love the title. It reminds me of that old Frank Sinatra song, "Just One of Those Things" where he sings about a trip to the moon on gossamer wings.

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    1. I looked up the song because I'd never heard it before. Thanks!

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