Early Saturday morning, I left my house to walk to my neighbor's dog and something caught my eye against the wall of my garage. I stopped. Ahhh, a spider. It was somehow attached by a single thread of webbing. I took these three photos with my iPhone and left it alone.
Later I posted my photos to iNaturalist and the mostly likely ID was Cross Orb Weaver (Araneus diadematus) spider. Further on-line searching revealed that there are cross orb weaver spiders of many appearances. These photos most closely match this Araneus diadematus. The white cross on this spider is easily apparent on the top half of the bottom segment. There is also a smaller, dark cross just above the white cross on the top segment. I don't know spider anatomy to describe it better. Click on the photo to enlarge and you will easily see this. Middle photo is the best focused.
The spider finally got to move away from the thread that was holding it. I think, however, it may have met its demise in other spidery-like webs near the ground of my garage.
Addendum 10/10/2024
On a less squeamish note and probably more appealing to most, I add this photo of a Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) butterfly seen on the sidewalk of my urban neighborhood on 10/08. What a beauty! Too bad shadows from the overhanging grasses fall across it.
Second addendum 02/17/2025
In the New Yorker's 100th anniversary edition, February 17th and 24th, 2025 I just finished reading An Arachnophobe Pays Homage to the Spider by Kathryn Schulz. This is Kathryn Schulz at her best, funny and informative, reviewing The Lives of Spiders (Princeton) by Ximena Nelson, a professor of animal behavior at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Princeton University Press is so good. If you click on the link for The Lives of Spiders, you can get a great look inside at several pages and photos in the guide. Schulz's essay worked for me. I've ordered my copy.
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