First one ever seen on our property. Got a quick picture, then stepped on it. Unfortunately, I was barefoot.
Excellent response!
For those not in the know, they’re one of those pretty things that need to be eradicated wherever they are seen in the States.
Ewww. But hurray for you! And thanks!
This is why you don’t go out to the barn without a flashlight.
I’m not an arachnophobe, but damn!
Wolfie!
There’s a buttload of “Tree of Heaven” around here. I’ll keep an eye out.
Eight legs bad 
, six legs good 
!
I thought so too, but after googling, I’m thinking possibly a huntsman. I’m all too familiar with the wolf spiders, and they don’t lie flat like that. They look more poised to spring at you.
Wolf spider reflective eyes in a flashlight beam freak me tf out.
Years ago I had landscaping done in front of a house I owned. The landscape dude told me that they turned over a huge, flat rock and there were zillions of wolf spiders. His one employee was phobic, peed his pants, and quit.
The landscape dude was laughing harder and harder as he told me the story, he had a hard time finishing.
I’d seen 5 or 6 wolf spiders on the lowest level of the house in my 5 years there.
Ah, Florida. Where the deer are tiny and the spiders (and ‘palmetto bugs’) are ginormous.
Today we walked around the estuary in Shoreham By Sea. The tide was out and the turnstones and oystercatchers, which have been absent for months, were suddenly present in numbers and working the shoreline again. Another sign of the seasons changing.
j
Last night in nature:
Damn, dude. Those are incredible shots.
Thanks!
Worth the 7 hours of driving.
Yeah, damn fine. I assume that must have been done with a really long exposure?
j
Actually, not that long. The exposure time is limited by the amount of star-trailing that is acceptable. For the very wide-angle shots, I stuck to < 8 seconds, and for the close-up one, 1 second. I have “fast” (wide-aperture), sharp lenses that can do a good job wide-open (or 1-stop down), so I don’t have to crank up the ISO. Both of these were shot at ISO’s less than 800.
(throws his camera in the trash bin)
Usually the bird feeder outside the front window is a haven for English sparrows (ugh), house finches, cardinals and a pair of doves but the last week or two has been interesting. First was the downy woodpecker that started visiting. Always fun to watch as it hangs upside down from the mesh sides and looks for bugs among the seeds in the tray. Then, within the last few days was a blue jay that started throwing its weight and voice around. Blue jays aren’t “rare” around here but not especially common either. Like you can easily go most of a year without spotting one but no one would be impressed if you say you saw one either. Anyway, this one has been visiting for the past several days.
Today though was a special treat when a pileated woodpecker came and hung off the tray and grabbed a bite. It and the blue jay traded spots back and forth for a while, each driving the other off until the loser came back and hustled off the former victor. Sadly, both were aware of me whenever I’d move near the window so I couldn’t get any photos worth sharing. Just a blurry pic taken from across the room with digital zoom through some sheer curtains – it’s like the Bigfoot photo of woodpeckers.
Fantastic!