Album of Martha Lake Field Trip

Selected photos by Laurel Ramseyer and Rod Crawford from our 10 June 2023 spider collecting trip to Martha Lake, NE of George, Grant County, Washington. Not to be confused with the Martha Lake north of Seattle, which all map search engines treat as their default! Easy to find since it's right off Interstate 90 (but the noise wasn't bad at all, contra expectation), moderately rich in introduced plants, it still had a decent spider fauna. Unfortunately, most plants were wet from a substantial rain shower not long before! But we managed to boost the gridspace sample from 1 to 30 species.
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2020 aerial photo of Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington northern pond at Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Martha Lake (or lakes), right of center. Red dot where we parked
(Grant County, 2020)		 Northern pond of Martha Lake                  © Rod Crawford
vegetation wet at Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington north part of main lake, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Vegetation still wet when we arrived        © Rod Crawford Northern segment of main lake                    © Rod Crawford
foliage of Eleagnus Russian olive, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington Russian olive Eleagnus thicket, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Russian olive foliage              © Rod Crawford Massive Russian olive thicket                © Rod Crawford
Russian olive leaf litter, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington willow thicket, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Leaf litter in Russian olive thicket         © Rod Crawford Lake shore willow thicket             © Rod Crawford
spider Neon ellamae from leaf litter, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington spider Ebo evansae from willow litter, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Neon ellamae            © Rod Crawford Ebo evansae                      © Rod Crawford
leaf litter in willow thicket, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington dock on northern pond, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Willow leaf litter and foliage        © Laurel Ramseyer Dock on northern pond             © Rod Crawford
outhouse building, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington flowering milkweed, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
We found no spiders on outhouse           © Rod Crawford Flowering milkweed                        © Rod Crawford
Tetraopes milkweed boring cerambycid beetle, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington field of milkweed, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Tetraopes milkweed beetle          © Laurel Ramseyer Got milk? A whole field of milkweed                      © Laurel Ramseyer
male crab spider Tibellus gertschi from Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington female wolf spider Schizocosa mccooki from Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Laurel found Tibellus gertschi ground-active © Rod Crawford Schizocosa mccooki also ground-active                  © Laurel Ramseyer
cheat grass Bromus tectorum, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington invasive rabbit brush Chrysothamnus nauseosus, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Nasty invasive cheat-grass was present    © Rod Crawford And also invasive rabbitbrush, which hosts a few spiders         © Rod Crawford
sagebrush foliage, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington sagebrush shrub, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
But foliage of real sagebrush is better         © Rod Crawford Many entire sagebrush shrubs available — but wet           © Rod Crawford
female lynx spider Oxyopes scalaris, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington field of Sisymbrium, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Oxyopes scalaris, a leading sagebrush spider    © Laurel Ramseyer Field of invasive Sisymbrium one of first things I could sweep    © Rod Crawford
juvenile male orbweaver Neoscona, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington three different Dictyna species, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Juvenile Neoscona due to become big    © Laurel Ramseyer There were at least 6 species of Dictyna                © Laurel Ramseyer
pholcid spider Psilochorus hesperus from Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington gnaphosid spider Zelotes puritanus, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington
Psilochorus hesperus under earth clod  © Laurel Ramseyer Zelotes puritanus from under rock                © Laurel Ramseyer
Phalangium opilio from community hall, George, Grant county, Washington Community Hall building, community hall, George, Grant county, Washington

Phalangium opilio on Community Hall    © Laurel Ramseyer George Community Hall had plenty of wall habitat               © Rod Crawford
Platycryptus californicus jumping spider on community hall, George, Grant county, Washington European black pines planted outside community hall, George, Grant county, Washington
Platycryptus californicus on wall of Hall  © Laurel Ramseyer European black pines (with cones) outside Community Hall  © Laurel Ramseyer
jumping spider Attulus ammophilus on community hall, George, Grant county, Washington juniper shrubs outside community hall, George, Grant county, Washington
Attulus amophilus on wall of Hall        © Laurel Ramseyer Juniper shrubs produced two further jumping spiders            © Rod Crawford
juvenile Phidippus jumping spider, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington Vantage Bridge from Vantage across Columbia river, Washington
Phidippus juveniles were abundant        © Laurel Ramseyer Ready to cross the Vantage Bridge homeward                  © Rod Crawford
juvenile Phidippus jumping spider, Martha Lake, Grant County, Washington sunset from I-90 in the Washington cascades, 10 June 2023
Another juvenile Phidippus            © Laurel Ramseyer Sun setting as we speed nearer home                        © Rod Crawford

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This page last updated 25 June, 2023