Sorry sorry sorry neglected blog! I apologize for the lack of blog posts over the past months. Catherine and I have been very busy, with a spider course in Arizona, ant work, many manuscripts to finish, and an impending move to Toronto. Catherine is going to be starting a PhD on widow spider behaviour this fall at UTSC, and I am heading out with her to try to ind some work or a postdoc there.
For now, I will just post some photos with some rambling about what we have been doing in the last few weeks. I will try to get more in depth on the spider course and associated activities soon!
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Catherine at the Spider Course in Arizona. This was an awesome 2 week trip for us, and a real education in spider ID!
![IMG_3529](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IMG_3529.jpg)
The spider course was held in the Chiricahua mountains, an absolutely gorgeous area that has a lot to offer the naturalist.
![IMG_4968](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IMG_4968.jpg)
Off course, the spider course brought us to a great area or spiders…Here is a huntsman. Be prepared for many cool species when Catherine gets around to posting about them!
![080815IMG_6217](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/080815IMG_6217.jpg)
After our return from the spider course, we made a trip to Island View Beach to stock up on black widows or Catherine’s PhD research.
![081015IMG_6359](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/081015IMG_6359.jpg)
It was a gorgeous day for collecting, and the coastal dunes were doing their best to tell us not to leave!
![081015IMG_6540](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/081015IMG_6540.jpg)
A garter snake from Island View. We will look forward to a more diverse snake fauna in southern Ontario.
![081015IMG_6685](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/081015IMG_6685.jpg)
In the past few weeks, as we organized our gear for the move, we had some balcony visitors, including this juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. Right above our door!
![081915IMG_7168](http://ibycter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/081915IMG_7168.jpg)
The hummingbirds are still here, right outside the door…In Ontario, we will have but a single species, and only for part of the year 🙁
Keep up the great photos coming let me know if you make it back to the west coast
Will do!