You are looking at the web of a spider called an orb weaver. There are over 2,000 different kinds of orb weaver spiders worldwide. I found this web while walking in the woods. If I had been in a hurry, I could have been caught in the web. Of course it couldn’t have captured me, but it wouldn’t have been pleasant.

Orb weavers begin their web by finding an open area and dropping down while releasing an anchor thread and attaching it to something below. Next it attaches several threads, one at a time, to the center of the anchor thread. It stretches these secondary threads outward mimicking the spokes in a bicycle wheel. Lastly, the spider spins round and round from the center outward until it completes its web to the size it wants.

This web was at least three feet across. You can see holes where small birds or large insects flew through the web without getting caught.

Horrell is an artist and outdoorsman. He lives in Chaffee. He owns Painted Wren Art Gallery in Cape Girardeau.