Selected photos by Rod Crawford and Laurel Ramseyer from our 7 December 2017 spider collecting trip to working forest lands on Mowich Lake Road (SSE of Carbonado), Pierce County, Washington. This destination was a last-minute choice after minor car damage ruled out a nearby rougher road. Thanks to a temperature inversion, early-afternoon weather was warm even though there was some snow on the ground at 2860' elevation! Chiefly from conifer foliage in a 2006 clearcut and leaf litter in one from the mid-1990s, we took 27 species before it got too cold and dark to continue.

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Regenerating forests of varied ages (our site at red dot) (Pierce County, 2014)	Just rising above the fog              © Rod Crawford
Last fall color in a Bonney Lake parking lot  © Rod Crawford	Our main site, a 2006 clearcut (older stand in distance)      © Laurel Ramseyer
Rod all bundled up for action          © Laurel Ramseyer	Mount Rainier, nearby, in full daylight             © Rod Crawford
Laurel suiting up for action           © Rod Crawford	Road wet with snow-melt, but solid           © Rod Crawford
Snow patch between young Douglas-firs  © Laurel Ramseyer	More snow between more young Douglas-firs             © Rod Crawford
Spider-rich Douglas-fir foliage           © Rod Crawford	Some fog still visible down in the valley             © Laurel Ramseyer
Probably Theridion lawrencei (juvenile)    © Rod Crawford	Pityohyphantes rubrofasciatus              © Laurel Ramseyer
Another juvenile Theridion            © Rod Crawford	Shadow of 20-year regrowth enough to prevent snowmelt  © Laurel Ramseyer
Understory already developing           © Rod Crawford	Laurel's amazing Ebo evansae specimen              © Rod Crawford (see no Ebo, hear no Ebo, speak no Ebo?)
Surprisingly deep, rich alder litter       © Rod Crawford	I sifted the litter in the warm late-fall sunlight           © Rod Crawford
Just 3 alder trees dropped all that litter     © Rod Crawford	Lowering sun meant distinctly cooler temperature          © Laurel Ramseyer
Female Taracus pallipes            © Laurel Ramseyer	Taracus pallipes is a winter-active harvestman         © Laurel Ramseyer
Open fir cones high in a tree tantalized… © Laurel Ramseyer	But Laurel did manage to tap 34 of them                   © Laurel Ramseyer
Coriarachne brunneipes            © Laurel Ramseyer	Loose bark on a snag/log was productive                 © Laurel Ramseyer
Rod, collecting at dusk, begins to freeze  © Laurel Ramseyer	But fauna of these younger Doug-firs worth freezing for    © Laurel Ramseyer
Ridge silhouetted against dusk light           © Rod Crawford	Pink sunset reflected from Mt. Rainier             © Rod Crawford

This page last updated 15 December, 2017