To me at least, orb weavers are kind of your classic spiders. They are the group that weave the large, ornate, basically round webs that most of us think of when we think of spiders. There are plenty of varieties of orb weavers out there, and we certainly have our share here in central Florida. I also have plenty of them here on my property. I have previously written about Mabel orchard orb weavers (by far the most common around here), Argyra orb weavers, banded garden spiders, and several others. One afternoon last week I found a beautiful web spun across my driveway. I wish I could have gotten a good photo of it because it was nearly perfect. Rather than being round it was triangular, and without tools, I doubt that any human could have built it more proportionally. The outer edges and suspending strands on all sides were thickened intermittently, which is what allowed me to see it instead of driving right through it. Even those thickened areas were spaced almost perfectly. It really was a thing of beauty. And in the center of this gorgeously constructed web was a very colorful female spiny orb weaver. The afternoon lighting was at an angle where no matter what I tried, I couldn’t adequately capture the web, but at least I was able to capture it’s equally attractive builder. I had intended to go back out later when the lighting had changed and try again to photograph the web, but that wasn’t in the cards. About half an hour after I got home the sky let go with one of our afternoon showers. When it was over the web and spider were gone.