Album of Morse Wildlife Preserve Field Trip

Selected photos (by Rod Crawford and Lynette Schimming) from a spider collecting trip to the Morse Wildlife Preserve near Graham, Pierce County, Washington, on unseasonably spring-like 20 February 2010. In aid of Lynette's project of helping the preserve document their fauna, we collected 30 identifiable spider species (and photographed most of them) in grassland, the edge of a large marsh, and maple and conifer groves. There were several unusual or interesting records. Up to now, Lynette has mainly photographed "bugs"; this was her first full-fledged collecting trip. It left her tired but happy!
READ TRIP NARRATIVE PHOTO ALBUM INDEX MAIN JOURNAL INDEX
photomap of Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington barn in grassy field, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Our sites marked on photomap of preserve (Pierce County, 2009) Barn of the former farm in restored grassland              © Rod Crawford
Lynette Schimming photographing a spider at Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington Dictyna sp. #1, Dictynidae, from Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Lynette takes aim at the sorting cloth   © Rod Crawford Dictyna species #1, common but undescribed      © Lynette Schimming
winter snowberry shrubs Symphoricarpos, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington willow at edge of marsh, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Leafless winter snowberry thicket        © Rod Crawford Willows at edge of marsh           © Rod Crawford
Rod Crawford photographing snowberry thicket, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington edge of marsh, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Rod takes aim at snowberries       © Lynette Schimming Edge of marsh               © Rod Crawford
spider Theridion sexpunctatum, Theridiidae, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington isopod Philoscia muscorum, Oniscidae, from maple litter, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
The super-common Theridion sexpunctatum    © Lynette Schimming Philoscia muscorum from maple litter           © Lynette Schimming
large isolated Douglas-fir tree at Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington Douglas-firs at edge of grassland, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Lynette & Mary Sue by the big fir we beat  © Rod Crawford Douglas-fir stand at edge of grassland             © Rod Crawford
thick Douglas-fir foliage, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington crab spider Philodromus josemitensis, Thomisidae, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Spiders "love" dense Douglas-fir foliage     © Rod Crawford …including Philodromus josemitensis          © Lynette Schimming
western thatching ant Formica obscuripes preying on spider Tetragnatha laboriosa, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington matted winter grass in meadow, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Thatching ant turns tables on Tetragnatha     © Lynette Schimming Last year's grass            © Rod Crawford
early spring grass at marsh edge, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington juvenile orbweaver spider, Metepeira sp., from grass, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Spring grass coming up in winter       © Rod Crawford We swept prairie orbweaver Metepeira from grass       © Lynette Schimming
spider Theridion simile, Theridiidae, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington Phragmites stand at marsh edge, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Beautiful shrubland spider Theridion simile    © Lynette Schimming Mighty Phragmites stand had good wetland spiders        © Rod Crawford
prairie remnant with oak tree, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington spider Theridion varians, Theridiidae, with ichneumonid wasp parasite, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Prairie remnant with a solitary oak tree    © Rod Crawford Theridion varians with parasitic wasp larva        © Lynette Schimming
Lynette Schimming sweeeping grass for spiders, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington spider Tetragnatha caudata, Tetragnathidae, from marsh edge, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
By a woodpile, Lynette discovers grass-sweeping    © Rod Crawford Tetragnatha caudata, a marsh specialist       © Lynette Schimming
Oregon ash trees Fraxinus latifolia at marsh edge, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington bigleaf maple tree Acer macrophyllum, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Ash trees dropped most of their litter in the marsh   © Rod Crawford Fair-sized maple tree made for spider-rich litter        © Rod-Crawford
leaf litter of bigleaf maple Acer macrophyllum, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington centipede Zygethobius ecologus, Henicopidae, from maple litter, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Ever-reliable maple litter        © Rod Crawford Zygethobius ecologus, apt denizen for a nature reserve   © Lynette Schimming
conifer forest salal-fern understory, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington marsh at dusk, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Graham, Washington
Understory salal and fern, our last habitat   © Rod Crawford The marsh at dusk                 © Rod Crawford

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This page last updated 28 February, 2011