Tiny Spider

It's getting nippy out there, but the ridiculous numbers of spiders in the yard are hanging on. This tiny one was hanging out in the long yellowed lily stalks.

Crab Spider

I have never spotted one of these before June until this year. There it was hanging out on the blackberries on Saturday. I guess the winter was extremely mild if these guys are getting this big this fast.

Spiders

The yard has been full have 1/2" long spiders for a few weeks now. Not many other bugs about, but the spiders are hopping everywhere you step.

Spider

I'm not sure on type, but it reminded me of a jumping spider. It's even on standard insect screen so size is easier to guess. This guy was sitting at eye level on the door of the screen porch. Talk about a surprise.

Jumping Spider

Pretend you saw this yesterday. This guy is living in a mason jar in my kitchen. I caught it in my mother's car after some finagling. On the way back from the Stone Zoo it decided to come out from under my car seat. It was a bit cold, and I hate to release critters where they didn't come from, so it now lives on pinhead crickets. It certainly seems happy and loves its crickets. No idea on species, as these guys all look rather alike if you don't have a microscope. Its back is black, with bright orange spots on the abdomen.

Moose Hill from Tuesday

The snow is very slowly releasing it's grip on the ground. I got there a little late around 8 AM and the ice layer across all the trails was still mostly frozen. next time I will remember to bring my ice grippers. I didn't sink much even though the snow was still 12" deep in a few spots. The crust is now quite thick. The walk out wasn't too bad, but 2 hours later the ice layer had started to melt and made the main trail back quite slick.

The boardwalk is still closed, but you get to walk all the way to it before you find out. I wonder if it's covered with snow, or if the refreezing actually damaged it this winter. It's my favorite section, so it being continually closed is a let down. I'll have to remember next time and wander down to the pond and stream across the street.

It's maple sap harvesting season again. This year there was a trash can being used at one point. I kind of prefer the metal buckets, though there isn't really much of a difference.

This is the same place I captured graceful shadows on the snow a few weeks ago. The snow has since melted in strange places and seems more like the surface of the moon.

I wonder if all the short pine trees will bounce back from spending months stuck to the ground. I did see a number of larger trees snapped in half across teh paths, so maybe being bendy isn't so bad.

The trails all had leaves and branches embedded in them. My guess is the sun warms them up just enough for them to slowly melt down in the snow. The ice cocooning them however was quite nice.

Closeup of nice ice.

More ice.

Near the end of my trek I spotted this curious fellow. I have never seen a spider out in snow before. It was alive and walked away while I was watching. I imagine it isn't very happy about being out right now, but it didn't seem to bothered.

There were plenty of vague footprints to sort through. Most of the prints were obviously people, but I spotted a few deer tracks, possibly coyote, and raccoon as well.

Crab Spider

In late summer these spiders can be found on daisy type plants. I've seen them on phlox as well. They do appear in different colors, often matching the bloom color of their chosen plant. They often sit either just under the flower petals, or right up against the bud on top of the petals. A sure sign they are around is dessicated insects attached to the flowers petals. It took me a while to notice them as they are tiny, barely 1 cm across for many of them. All the pictures I had seen were greatly magnified as these spiders are unlikely to be noticed with a casual look. They sit with their four front legs spread wide resembling crabs.

Daily Photo - Spider

This guy is lurking around the compost bin. It looks tough, but it is barely 1/2" long.

Daily Photo - Cross Spider Again

It's just such an impressive spider.

Daily Photo - Cross Spider I Think

I spotted this guy while pulling into my driveway. The web is about 18 in circumference, and about 5 feet off the ground. The spider is at eye level and it's huge. Fall is the easy time to spot spiders as they're hitting their maximum sizes.

Daily Photo - Crab Spider

Crab Spider on phlox. I became extremely lazy on gardening the last two months and decided that as September is already more than half over, I can ignore the huge amount of weeding that needs to be done, and handle it next spring, after all the annual weeds die.

Daily Photo - Spider

Spotted on my back porch.

Daily Photo - Sink Spider

These guys seem to keep appearing in my sink. I figured out they're camping out in the cans I'm bringing back from walks.

Daily Photo - Sand Spider

It was only about 2 inches leg tip to leg tip. Nicely camouflaged too.

Daily Photo - Cross Spider with Dragonfly

Another Cross Spider hanging out on my house, above her ultimate catch. There was also what I think was a male wandering about a foot away, up and down the ends of her web. He's already lost two legs, though that might have been to different spider.

Moose Hill - Part 2

These are all from the Forest Trail, which I'd never walked before. Yes I've been going to Moose Hill for 3 years now and had never walked this trail. I found it quite nice. I also found plenty of things to add to my list of finally seeing them.

Two interesting mushrooms.

The ferns are giving up... I love the ferns when they start coming up in the Spring. they've been beat all year and now it's time for them to sleep. I still think hibernating for humans is a sound concept. Just hide inside until Winter ends. I got a pic of the tops, but it wasn't even half as interesting as the bottoms. To be added to my list of new things seen. I'm not quite sure what it is yet, but I'll find out. This is just one part. There was a stem crawling along the ground with a bunch of these all sticking up from it. My first surprise spider of the trip. I almost walked face first into this one, who is much smaller than it appears. At first I though it was a spider dragging a leaf or something, but that is all body. I looked it up and came up with this, a female Spined Micrathena (Micrathena gracilius). Also a first. An American Pelecinid Wasp (Pelecinus polyturator), also a female. Why in the bug world does it seem only the females are noticeable. Either a Comma or a Question Mark butterfly. I couldn't get good pics of this one, as by the time I saw it and focused it would move again. Playing with swirling the camera while focusing on leaves above. I liked the effect on this one, but the others didn't come out as well. This is probably Clavulinopsis fusiformis, or Spindle-Shaped Coral Fungus. I find it to be a little less common, or maybe it's just coming up where I don't see it. I love this type of fungus. It doesn't seem to matter how many pics I take of it, anytime I see a new color, or new growth I end up with a picture. It's some type of bracket fungi. Black Racer. At first I thought this was a Black Rat Snake. Thankfully I stayed fairly far away, as Black Racers can be very nasty if they feel threatened. The snake was huge, or at least I thought it was huge. It was around 4 feet long and rather thick which is why I first thought rat snake. It looked a lot like a fat black corn snake. Also a first sighting for me, as I normally only see garters or ribbon snakes. Another face dropper. This one dropped down as I stopped to look back at the pics I took of the snake. It was easily the size of my thumb. A marbled Orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus), also a female. I got lazy, okay I stayed up until midnight, and didn't go out this morning, even though the pouring rain might have stirred up some interesting stuff. Maybe I'll go to Broadmoor on the way home.

Moose Hill - Part 1

I managed to get out of bed early, even though I really detest waking up while it's still dark. I made it to Moose Hill around 7:30. I was shooting for earlier, but anything before 8 is a victory for me. Half the point of getting up early is starting in October the parking lot won't open until 8. So I only have 2 more days of very early morning photos. The time the parking lot opens, and nice morning light only coexist nicely for a few weeks in the Spring and Fall. I found this neat purple edged fungus on the Billings Loop Swamp Walkway. There were also plenty of seasonal leaves just waiting for photos. It rained yesterday, so this early in the morning everything was covered in fine water droplets, with a soaked backdrop. The most prevalent thing to see today was fungus, dozens of different colors and types were on the sides of all the trails I walked. Moose Hill is where I learned a few years ago to make sure to turn around frequently to check what you night have missed on the other side of the last dead tree. Often times when I hike I completely miss birds or anything much above eye level. I think the only reason I haven't actually walked into a deer is at least they're paying attention to their surroundings. For several minutes this flicker stared down at me, along with a mob of blue jays and something that shrieked, which I don't think was a blue jay. I would have missed it without the shrieker. I found this monarch crawling around in the wet grass, so like the one in my yard it got transferred to some milkweed to dry out. By the way the one in my yard took off this afternoon. Everything was wet. I somehow managed to avoid wet socks this time. I saw several of these spiders. I only saw them in pine trees, but maybe I just wasn't observant. Standard whitish mushrooms, not much to tell. These were growing out of dead trees in patches on every trail. Things like this make me love my camera. Immediately below is the whole picture. Below that is one just cropped to center. I've always wondered what actually makes those round holes in mushrooms. Wonder if it's that guy or if he is being falsely accused. A nondescript spider. I saw tons of spiders like this one by following the spider silk lines off the sides of the trail before I walked into them. The rest will be posted tomorrow. I did spent over 4 hours there, so I took way too many pics.

Oak Knoll - Attleboro MA

After a number of false starts I went out this morning. I was going to go to Moose Hill, but halfway there decided to try Stony Brook. When I got there I discovered that today was their Fall Fair or some such, and hiking wouldn't be very fun with that many people. I pulled out my list of MASS Audubon Sanctuaries and decided to try Oak Knoll in Attleboro, which I've kept putting off going to.

I liked it, and I was the only person there. Since it was quite cold last night I didn't see that much. I did startle the same heron a few times, and the sides of the trail were full of tiny (about 2 mm long) spiders. I wasted plenty of time trying to photograph them. There were some very cold dragonflies when I got there, though they'd warmed up by the time I left.

Actually most of the wildlife I saw were spiders. Above are the tiny ones, and below were likely their parents, or at least possible adults of the same species. There were a few asters blooming though. I went to Moose Hill on the way home and got another chance at one of these. I actually have no idea what it is, but the last few times I've gone there has been one hanging out in the parking lot on the milkweed, and all my previous pics ended up quite out of focus.