After posting spider photos earlier in the day, I kept going back to watch her and found her late in the day binding her days catch of bugs into a big bundle. She didn't seem alarmed when I got close enough to get the picture above.
You'll want to click on these pictures to see them larger.The Silver Argiope Spider is back in our yard again. It, or one just like it, appears every year. I don’t know how long spiders live, but this female is making herself right at home in a big shrub beside the fence... in exactly the same spot where I photographed a spider at the end of summer last year. The Silver Argiope, like all spiders, can bite, but it isn’t considered dangerous to humans; so leave it alone and let it do its work. These spiders keep down the insect population in the garden... and among the wild yellow flowers out on the hillside above Mission Valley.