A spider web across a trail will stop me every time. This one hung at eye level on a trail at the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center. Sitting in the middle of it was what I believe is a spotted orb-weaver spider.
Finding the Spotted Orb-Weaver Spider on the Trail
I was hiking one of the trails at the nature center near Fort Smith when I spotted the spider. Silk stretched from one side of the trail to the other, right at my eye level. The spider sat in the center of a round, neat orb web.
The clues pointed to an orb-weaver. Its abdomen carried mottled brown markings. Its legs were banded light and dark. I believe it is a spotted orb-weaver, though I am going by looks alone.
How Light Changed Both Photos
My first photo was from behind the spider. The morning sun sat on the other side of it. A nearby tree filled the background with green.
Then I moved around and photographed it from underneath. A pale background filled that background instead. This time the sun was behind me, lighting the spider from my side.
Side by side, the two photos hardly look like the same spider. The spider never changed. The light and the background did all of it.
The Morning the Web Met the Hikers
I planned to come back later that morning. Different light would have given me a third version of the same spider. That plan ended early.
Two hikers came down the trail facing into the sun. They never saw the web. They walked straight into the spider and its silk.
The funny part came next. Both hikers and their dog passed within about ten steps of me. I was standing in the open, just off the trail. None of them noticed me, and I was most surprised by the dog not seeing me.
This was not my first orb-weaver across a trail. Several years ago I met another one on a different trail. I wrote about it in Orb Weaver Spider on a Mountain Bike Trail.
Trail webs are a hazard for hikers and a gift for photographers. This one gave me two portraits of a single spider, and a story to go with them.