As I was reaching for my camera bag after taking a photo of a spider, I was surprised to see an unexpected visitor—a much larger spider with what looks like an egg sack.
I was in a wooded area and had placed my bag on the ground while I set up my tripod to take a photo of a small spider (shown in the second photo). After getting the shots, I returned to my bag. I bent down to open the zipper of the bag and suddenly was eye-to-eye with the spider. The spider seemed really large at that moment, although retrospectively it does not seem that big when I compare it with the Adidas logo on the zipper pull. When I tried to adjust the bag’s position, the spider moved away, but fortunately I had the foresight to take some photos before attempting to improve the lighting situation.
I am not sure of the identification of either of these spiders, but find them both to be pretty cool in their own ways. I’d welcome some more information from more knowledgeable readers about the white ball and, in particular, if it is an egg sack.
UPDATE: I have done a little research and think that the spider in the first shot may be a Nursery Web Spider (Psaurina mira), a spider that is known for carrying its egg sack with its fangs. Some other spiders attach the egg sack to their spinnerets.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Baby bird
Posted in Birds, commentary, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, baby bird, Canon 100mm macro lens, Canon Rebel XT on May 24, 2013| 4 Comments »
What do you do when you find a baby bird on the ground? That was the dilemma I faced a couple of nights ago, when I found this tiny baby bird on the lawn of a neighbor’s townhouse.
Earlier in the week another neighbor had alerted me that there were baby birds in a tree a few doors down from my townhouse. I live in a suburban townhouse community and each of us has a postage-stamp size front lawn and a mandatory tree, mostly small crab apple trees. The baby birds were in a cavity of one such tree, a mere two feet (60 cm) above the ground and there seemed to be three or four babies.
When I returned home from work, I checked on the babies and suddenly heard a squawk. I looked down at my feet and saw one of the babies in the grass. There are all kinds of views about the advisability of putting baby birds back in a nest, but I was genuinely concerned that this tiny bird was in an incredibly vulnerable spot (among other things, we have some cats in the neighborhood).
A little fearful of doing it myself, I called my friend (and fellow blogger) Cindy Dyer, who was both willing and able to place the small bird back with its siblings in the cavity of the tree. Yesterday evening, I made a quick check of them and they seem to be ok.
I was mostly focused on dealing with the situation, but did manage to get a few quick shots of the little bird, which I can’t yet identify.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Share this:
Like this:
Read Full Post »