Summer, reaching full-size in late August and September. Details and diagrams of their techniques are at. Most lose stickiness after a day and are eaten by the spider who then, in the ultimate in recycling, uses the ingested silk to reconstruct the web. The initial strand in web construction of Argiopes' is called the "baseline." It then drops a single line in a "Y" and builds the radials before adding the sticky web. In an active web, and quickly wrapped and encased by the spider, muchĪs an insect might be." Spider web construction varies with the species and many spiders don't even bother to make one. In one report, a ruby-throated hummingbird was caught Spider's silk has a tensile strength comparable to steel Removing the pieces of webbing, for it may become entangled and be Even so, the hummingbird must be careful when Necessary to bind the nest to the tree branch or other substrate and to Use spider webs as a source of spider's silk in nest construction, being It is possible however that the hummingbird wasn't an entirely innocent victim. The web had been suspended in front of the cardinal flowers which just happened to appeal to a ruby-throated hummingbird. There was no ruby throat so it must have been a female or juvenile. On the other side I could just make out the iridescent green of a hummingbird's wing under the silk cloak. As I was taking pictures, I suddenly focused on a long slender beak protruding from the silk wrapping.