Yesterday, while traversing the courtyard near the insectary, I came upon a family of 4 baby raccoons and their mom. As I had been struggling through a grant application all day, these were an awesome lift to my spirits!
Yesterday, while traversing the courtyard near the insectary, I came upon a family of 4 baby raccoons and their mom. As I had been struggling through a grant application all day, these were an awesome lift to my spirits!
A few weeks ago, I suggested a Rat Safari, as a budget-minded wildlife photo expedition that is easy to do in most cities. Today, I bring you a budget spider safari, which Catherine and I conducted in the tiny park across the street. For this to work, I needed some constant illumination in the subject area, so I simply taped my Fenix E-05 flashlight to the lens hood of my 100 mm, which illuminated the spiders for easy focusing. The lighting for the shots was simply accomplished with a single diffused speedlight on the Monster Macro Rig. I hope you enjoy the photos, and are inspired to go find some little night spiders yourself!
This Weekend, I joined local naturalist Istvan Orosi and members of the Hastings Park Conservancy for a guided walk around the pond at Hastings Park, my local greenspace. While Istvan kept an eye out for birds (he is master of the Audubon Bird Call!) I mainly scanned the foliage for insects and spiders.
This week was big for the Conservancy, as the Vancouver City Council heard arguments for the transfer of governance of the park from the PNE corporation (which is not doing that great a job for the wildlife) to to the Parks Board. The Council will decide the issue in a special session Aug. 1, but I am not really hopeful the governance will change.
In the meantime, here are the pictures I took on Saturday!
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Last night, in celebration of National Moth Week, we set up a sheet and some lights near the Insectary Annex at SFU to see what kinds of nocturnal insects we could attract. Because the location offered a clear view of the woods, we brought in a substantial number of the scaly, winged creatures. About 15 people came to enjoy the show, and we saw some pretty cool moths and other nocturnal beasties!
Check out the gallery below to see some of the insects and spiders we found!
Sorry, no Cheapskate Tuesday today, as I just got back from another Barn Owl trapping adventure. I need to get to sleep!
This weekend I have been working on revisions on a paper, so have not had time for a full-fledged expedition, but I spent a couple hours outside the lab at school (Simon Fraser University) on Saturday and Sunday, and some time in the Community Garden at Pandora Park in the evenings. For the time invested, it was not a bad haul of shots!
Of all the spiders found locally, none has more impressive fangs than Dysdera crocata, the Woodlouse Hunter. These beauties are often found under logs near the beach or in woodlands. I have this one in the lab, hoping one day to record some of the predation behaviour on video. Their bright coloration and fearsome armaments make these one of my favourite species.
Y’all know I love me some syrphids! These awesome fliers are fun to watch and are very abundant in season. They are devilishly hard to catch in flight, but sometimes they oblige and hover motionless in the air, begging for a shot. Last evening at Hastings Park, I was shooting in an area filled with blooming thistle. This little gal did the hovering thing right in front of me, so I took a quick few shots. With the Laphria I found Wednesday, this has definitely been my lucky week for flies!
Occasionally, when it is a nice day out, it is too much to be good and stay in…Even when I am fighting the good fight, writing grant proposals and revising manuscripts, sometimes the lure of the outdoors becomes irresistible. This morning was one of those times. Just before lunch, I grabbed my camera and headed out to shoot for 40 minutes in the SFU Community Garden. I am glad I did, because it was the most productive 40 minutes shooting in a long while!
So overall, my little adventure produced some decent shots! To top it off, when I returned to the lab I got an email informing me that a paper I am coauthor on had been accepted for publication in the Canadian Entomologist. Productive slacking! Is there anything better?
This lovely jumping spider is a common sight on walls around the Vancouver area: meet Platycryptus californicus, a member of the Marpissinae subfamily of Salticidae. If you live in Eastern North America, another Platycryptus, P. undatus is also common.
At first glance, P. californicus seems a wee bit boring. They are overall grey and drab, and hang out on grey drab walls. When shot up close on white, however, these little salticids reveal their beauty. I found this one yesterday on a wall in my back yard, and a couple days ago one was in my living room. This is truly one jumper that has adapted well to the urban habitat.