Spider Gallery

Tarantulas

A desert tarantula walks across the Little Arsenic Trail in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area in New Mexico's Rio Grande Gorge

Well That Hardly Seems Fair

We were hiking the Little Arsenic Trail in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area in the Rio Grande Gorge when we crossed paths with this wonderful little tarantula. I think it might be a desert tarantula since they are supposed to be common in New Mexico, and possibly a female.

While researching tarantulas, I was stunned to learn of their longevity. Species like this one don't reach sexual maturity for nearly a decade and the females often live another decade after that. The poor males, however, survive only months after mating for the first time, one and done.

Not exactly fair, is it?

A desert tarantula tries to hide under a rock on the Little Arsenic Trail in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area in New Mexico's Rio Grande Gorge

A Tight Squeeze

After crossing the trail, the tarantula tried to hunker down under this rock but despite its best efforts it didn't quite fit. I decided to continue up the trail and leave it be, either to stay there or find a more accommodating hiding spot.

Unidentified Spiders

All of these spiders were photographed in our yard in Portland, Oregon.

A spider sits on a decaying purple coneflower blossom

Death in Decay

I was about to trim the coneflower blossoms but held back when I noticed this spider waiting for prey among the decaying petals. This little patch of coneflower hosts at least three different spider species, this one doesn't spin a web but lies in wait near the blossoms.

A small spider eats a bee it has caught in its web inside a clematis blossom

Beware the Spider-bee!

First it catches you in its web,
wraps eight legs around your head,
then stings and stings and stings and stings,
'til you, poor soul, are nought but dead.

O child, my child, beware the spider-bee!

I saw this miniature life-and-death struggle inside a blossom of one of our clematis vines. Actually, at this stage, the struggle was over. The tiny little bee had gone about collecting pollen before getting trapped in the web of this tiny little spider.

New Eyes

We called these daddy long-legs growing up. I’m not sure if it’s the same species as we had back east, and I don’t think they are true spiders, but then again I’m not an entomologist and don’t play one on TV. I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Express last night.

I was stunned when I looked at this picture in Photo Mechanic after I had downloaded it into my Powerbook. I had assumed the eyes would be out front near the jaws, to better see what it was eating, but the eyes are actually set up on the top of its body on a small bump, they are the little black dots about half way back on the body.

It’s one of the joys of photography, to be able to take a close look at something you’ve seen all your life and see it with new eyes.

Yummy

This little spider eats a blackened mass of some insect(s) that it caught in its web, I’m sure if you’re a spider it’s quite tasty. I first found it on the underside of a leaf of one of our rose bushes, but these spiders are probably the most common in our yard and could be found in just about plant or structure. Most of them are on the small side like this one, but a couple of them have gotten so large they are a little frightening.

Spider hanging in its web and eating its prey

Suspended

A spider hangs from its web and eats an insect that it captured. The spider made its web by attaching to a climbing rose bush on a trellis beside our house. The web was stretched out over a long distance and even the most gentle breeze would set the spider vibrating, so I had to wait a long time before I finally got one that wasn’t blurred by the wind.

Spider sitting on the leaves of a rose bush

First Spider

My first spider of the year for 2007, this little green fellow was sitting on a leaf in one of my favorite rose bushes. I took a sequence of pictures that varied the depth-of-field, but I prefer this one which leaves parts of the background and spider blurred. I feel it lends it a bit of a dreamy quality, a fitting style for the stuff of nightmares.

	Death in Decay I was about to trim the coneflower blossoms but held back when I noticed this spider waiting for prey among the decaying petals. This little patch of coneflower hosts at least three different spider species, this one doesn't spin a web but lies in wait near the blossoms.
	Beware the Spider-bee! First it catches you in its web, wraps eight legs around your head, then stings and stings and stings and stings, 'til you, poor soul, are nought but dead. O child, my child, beware the spider-bee! I saw this miniature life-and-death struggle inside a blossom of one of our clematis vines. Actually, at this stage, the struggle was over. The tiny little bee had gone about collecting pollen before getting trapped in the web of this tiny little spider.
	New Eyes We called these daddy long-legs growing up. I’m not sure if it’s the same species as we had back east, and I don’t think they are true spiders, but then again I’m not an entomologist and don’t play one on TV. I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Express last night. I was stunned when I looked at this picture in Photo Mechanic after I had downloaded it into my Powerbook. I had assumed the eyes would be out front near the jaws, to better see what it was eating, but the eyes are actually set up on the top of its body on a small bump, they are the little black dots about half way back on the body. It’s one of the joys of photography, to be able to take a close look at something you’ve seen all your life and see it with new eyes.
	Yummy This little spider eats a blackened mass of some insect(s) that it caught in its web, I’m sure if you’re a spider it’s quite tasty. I first found it on the underside of a leaf of one of our rose bushes, but these spiders are probably the most common in our yard and could be found in just about plant or structure. Most of them are on the small side like this one, but a couple of them have gotten so large they are a little frightening.