Other than mosquitos, (which are all but gone right now) Alaska has very few insects. I remember seeing a spider web last Summer, but the spider I saw today was the first I've seen in quite some time.
My younger brother was terrified of spiders. He could'nt even watch that movie, Arachniphobia. Cockroaches are about the only non-parasite that I truly loathe. This guy was only about as big as the tip of my little finger. It's abdomen looked like a brain. I have no idea what species it may be.
The rest of this post will be a few more photos I shot yesterday at Russian Jack Park.
Many of the blown over trees blocked the path, but they have been cut away. There are still many more trees lying across Chester Creek. They may end up changing the course of the creek.
I really wanted to find some good critters to photograph. I only heard one Red Squirrel. The only birds I saw were Canada Geese, Black-capped Chickadees, and a Magpie. I also heard some Red-breasted Nuthatches, Common Redpolls, and a Steller's Jay. So you see, birding is terrible around Anchorage these days.
3 comments:
Interesting spider. I cannot find it in my NWF field guide. It looks similar to the Common Housespider with a different pattern (colors but not pattern of the Western Spotted Orbweaver).
I wish we were lucky enough to be limited on that account. All our windowsills have sevral spiders present and active. Our nooks have long-bodied cellar spiders. Our porch area has Millipedes, woodlice, centipedes, slugs. Beachhoppers across the street. Once I even saw a pseudo-scorpion on a stump I had just cut. Let alone the flying insects.
We always had a lot of silverfish near Fairbanks.
We have had orcas swim by lately, and yesterday a cow moose (very rare for us) decided to swim the narrows only to return again when confronted by spectators, a boat, and sea lions. I can only imagine what was going on under the water. There were three or more sea lions cruising the shore where she hauled out.
Our camera is shy on zoom so our pictures require a microscope to examine. Maybe I'll order one today...
Hey Jeremy,
I guess Petersburg has far more biological diversity than Anchorage. If you can't get good telephoto shots, how about sending me some macro photos, plus scenery. I'm always starved for material to put up on the blog, as you can see from the last few posts.
I'll see what I can come up with. I didn't manage to remember a camera today and forgot a few other things too, but it's been crazy here lately. We have some folks coming up from Ketchikan tomorrow morning for a few days, but I'll try to get something interesting to you.
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