I know that a lot of people are sensitive about them and felt that, with great power demanding great responsibility, that you should be warned.

I found this beauty at the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Most folks go there for the birds and that was really my primary reason for going.  It wasn’t a very good day but, I happened to be on Sanibel Island and decided to drive though. The tide had just begun to go out so the water was high and all the birds were off in the distance.

As I walked onto one of the observation piers, I noticed this on it’s web between the pier railing and the overhanging mangroves.

Since the day was dull, fill flash was used to bring out the coloration and provide needed light to get good depth of field.

It is a Golden Silk Orbweaver (Nephila clavipes) and a beautiful representative of it’s species.  The openness of the web made it possible to get both top and bottom from the same spider.

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Tech data: Nikon D90, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 VR, 1/60 f11 with SB-800 flash