The weather was dreary overnight and light rain, practically a mist, dampened every surface here on Deer Isle. When I got up with the dogs, I noticed some funnel webs on the lawn and in the walk.
I’ve written about funnel webs and their creators on two previous encounters (2022-07-12 Funnel Weavers and 2025-05-16 Funnel Webs). In the latter, I wrote:
According to PennState Extension, “The webs, which are large, somewhat concave, mostly horizontal, and sheetlike with a funnel or tunnel located off to one side, are often observed more frequently than the spiders themselves. The webs are found on grass, weeds, and ground covers such as ivy, pachysandra, or periwinkle, and in numerous exterior places such as fencerows, bushes, and brush piles. However, homeowners frequently see these fast-moving spiders indoors in the autumn as the spiders seek protection from falling temperatures.”
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The morning stayed overcast and damp, which suggested the trail through Settlement Quarry would be quiet, so I took my chocolate lab Eddy out for a rehab walk (he’s recovering from surgery). The trail was littered with hundreds of these little webs.
As I continued to walk, I searched mostly in vain to find a spinner. Finally, more than halfway through, I was looking at the way water was beading in the web and I thought I saw one of the weavers. He was tiny — not much bigger than the bead on a thumbtack used to mark a place on a map. Can you spot it in the photo below?
No bigger than a water droplet! I took a thin stalk of nearby grass and lightly touched the web near that speck just to make certain he was the web’s living inhabitant. The little spider suddenly lit out for the funnel-like vent in the corner of his web and I decided to leave it alone. According to the research I consulted, grass spiders (Agelenidae) generally have a one-year life cycle. Females lay egg sacs in late summer or fall, which then overwinter. The spiderlings hatch in the spring and grow through a series of molts to reach adulthood in late summer. Since mature grass spiders range from 10-20 millimeters in body length, this was likely a juvenile spider — if I have the correct spider in mind (genus Agelenopsis).
Almanac
Today’s Forecast: Hazy conditions expected around 12PM. Wind gusts are up to 4 mph.
| Weather | ||
|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature: 58 | High Temperature: 62 | Precipitation (in): 0 |
| Wind Direction: S | Max Wind (mph): 4 | |
| Sunrise: 5:03 | Sunset: 8:17 | |
| Lunar Phase: Waning Gibbous | Days to Next Full: 29 |
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