Album of Righthand Fork Rock Creek Field Trip

Selected photos by Laurel Ramseyer, Rod Crawford, and Markku Savela from our 14 July 2023 spider collecting trip to sites on the Righthand Fork of Rock Creek and the south slope of Bald Mountain, south edge of Kittitas County, Washington. Markku's usual SUV vehicle came in handy for the long gravel road uphill (to around 5100') from Highway 410, initially fairly smooth but getting rougher and extremely rough by the end. It was a lovely site with a small lake, meadows and varied subalpine forest, but the collecting was spotty: some habitats (meadow sweeping) fairly good, others not as good as they looked, still others spiderless. But we reached our goal with 28 species, and Laurel found an apparently new Micaria!
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aerial photo of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington lake at head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Sites in red: head of Righthand fork and lower (Kittitas County, 2018) We collected near small lake                  © Rod Crawford
meadow near head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington lake at head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
A diversity of meadows          © Laurel Ramseyer Lake from another direction                    © Laurel Ramseyer
meadow near head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington lake at head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Another meadow habitat variant         © Laurel Ramseyer Full length of lake                     © Laurel Ramseyer
larch foliage, Larix, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington Bald Mountain above head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Larch foliage had its share of spiders         © Rod Crawford Bald Mountain, still higher above our lofty site            © Rod Crawford
subalpine fir foliage Abies lasiocarpa, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington marsh at corner of lake, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Subalpine fir foliage, Abies lasiocarpa       © Rod Crawford Marsh at corner of lake                      © Rod Crawford
Colias sp. sulphur butterfly, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington pompilid wasp, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Unidentified Colias species         © Markku Savela Pompilids foraged on ground for spiders I never saw         © Laurel Ramseyer
phantom crane fly Bittacomorpha occidentalis from lake at head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington Trimerotropis grasshopper, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Phantom crane fly swept from marsh       © Rod Crawford Trimerotropis grasshopper                © Laurel Ramseyer
productive white pine cones, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington pine trees, Ponderosa and white, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Productive white-pine cones         © Laurel Ramseyer Pine trees, Ponderosa and White              © Laurel Ramseyer
Euryopis formosa female spider from white pine cones, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington undescribed Micaria spider Gnaphosidae female, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Female Euryopis formosa from cones    © Laurel Ramseyer Also from white-pine cones, an undescribed Micaria!             © Rod Crawford
juvenile Steatoda spider from white pine cones, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington female gnaphosid spider Poecilochroa columbiana, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Steatoda juvenile from cones      © Laurel Ramseyer More cone fauna, adult female Poecilochroa columbiana     © Laurel Ramseyer
salticid spider retreat in grass seed, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington female jumping spider Pelegrina aeneola from grass-head retreat, head of Righthand Fork Rock Creek, Kittitas County, Washington
Retreat of Pelegrina among grass seeds © Laurel Ramseyer Pelegrina aeneola female from grass-seed retreat           © Laurel Ramseyer
Rod Crawford and Markku Savela by Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington
Rod and Markku at the second site      © Laurel Ramseyer Full width of the Righthand Fork                   © Rod Crawford
upland end of riparian transect, Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington stream end of riparian transect, Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington
Upland end of riparian transect        © Rod Crawford Stream end of riparian transect                © Rod Crawford
fire ring, Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington spider Clubiona pacifica emerging from retreat, Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington
Fire ring rocks, productive habitat     © Laurel Ramseyer Clubiona pacifica leaving retreat under fire ring rock        © Laurel Ramseyer
Rod Crawford beating riparian foliage, Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington Laurel Ramseyer collecting at Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington
Rod beating riparian foliage                © Markku Savela Laurel sees something in her net                        © Markku Savela
Rod Crawford and Laurel Ramseyer done collecting for the day, Righthand Fork Rock Creek 4115', Kittitas County, Washington sunset near Enumclaw, Washington on 14 July 2023
Done for the day                     © Markku Savela Sunset near Enumclaw                        © Rod Crawford

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This page last updated 23 July, 2023