I've never seen a spider like this one before. It's a female Shamrock spider on top of a stone wall. I looked her up. The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders says 3/4 of an inch, but she seemed much larger to me. Maybe they don't count the legs.Her days are numbered because only her offspring will make it through the winter. She's still moving pretty darn fast!According to the book she could be a poster girl for recycling. She spins a new web every night, uses it to catch her food, then eats the web strand by strand. Apparently she uses the old web to spin the new one. For a spider, she's beautiful in a creepy sort of Halloween way.
