As I was exploring Prince William Forest Park yesterday morning, I spotted this little spider. I was shooting almost directly into the sun when I captured this image and the light caused the spider’s legs to look almost transparent and the web to glow with all kinds of colors.
It looks almost like the spider was in outer space (and a Facebook viewer commented that she was totally ok with the spider being as far away as possible from her)..
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Well, that’s different.. love the shiny colours and spacey spider!
Gotta change things up a bit from time to time. 🙂
Looks to be coming out of hyperspace.
I suspect you have watched Star Trek and or Star Wars. 🙂
Suspicion confirmed.
🙂
They are everywhere. They might out live mankind.
They seem to be especially active during this time of the year. I am constantly having to wipe spiderwebs from my face when out in the wild, which is not exactly a pleasant sensation.
Benjamin has become a devoted lover of spiders and their webs, be they found on my deck or whilst we are adventuring. He will stop and peer closely at the web’s pattern and the unfortunate captives in them. Need I say that Benjamin will be fascinated with this magnificent photo? As for myself, I do not fear spiders but prefer them outdoors as opposed to the corners of my house. “The birds a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.” – William Blake. Thank-You, Mr. Mike!!
A correction to the quote, it should read “The bird a nest”. My apology to Blake!
Thanks, Ellen. I suspected that Benjamin would like spiders–most boys do–and love the quote (as corrected in your subsequent message). Thanks to for sharing the squirrel photos via e-mail. Like you, I suspect the squirrel was born with its “bobtail.”
A correction on the squirrel’s name : Lily (not Lilly) Bob-Tail. Benjamin named her after the “shemale” rabbit in Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit stories. He became an ardent fan of those books at the age of 2 1/2, due to the Benjamin Bunny character. Auntie H sent the photos and had typed the message sent with them. Benjamin was a bit distraught that “Lily’s name was wrong!”, alas caught too late to change! You and I may be wrong about the cause of the bobtail, our recent research has found that many squirrels survive the loss of a tail through attack or accidental misfortune! Benjamin will be delighted that his Lily was enjoyed by Mr. Mike! He has been bugging me to send a photo of a hawk that was terrorizing our backyard chipmunks a few weeks ago. I could not identify the hawk and Benjamin is positive that “Mr. Mike will know.”!
Wow. You prompted me to do a little research. According to what I was able to learn, Lily Bobtail did not actually appear in Beatrix Potter’s stories–she was created for the Peter Rabbit TV series (here is where I found that info https://peterrabbittvseries.fandom.com/wiki/Lily_Bobtail). As for the squirrel, I guess more research is in order for that one too.
I was a bit unclear in my last comment. Benjamin loved the Beatrix Potter books because of one in particular, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. He later came to adore the 2013 & 2014 DVD’s of Peter Rabbit in the Nickelodeon set of both that prominently features Lily Bobtail along with Peter and his cousin Benjamin. Benjamin prefers our squirrel’s name be written as Lily Bob-Tail for some unknown reason. Sorry for the confusion. I will follow your link just to see what else it may contain that is unknown to me. Of the many things that you might have planned on doing today, I expect that this was not amongst them! Thank-you!
Thanks for the clarification. I am afraid that I am not quite up to date on kid stuff. I will make sure that I correctly refer to the squirrel as “Lily Bob-tail.” Nowadays it seems like there is a wider variety of names (with multiple options for spelling) than when I was growing up. 🙂
Wondrous shot!
Thanks, Molly. I like the word that you chose to describe the image–“wondrous” seems to fit perfectly.
Benjamin is sitting here in wide eyed wonder : “Whoa! This spider is spooky and this is the awesomest spider web ever! They are so special, I love them!” Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
I love Benjamin’s response. Many people would consider “spooky” to be a negative response, but he seems to use “spooky” as a positive word. “Wide-eyed wonder”–it’s nice to have your description of his response as well as the words that he used. Thanks to the both of you.