Album of Foster Island BioBlitz Field Trip

Selected photos by Rod Crawford from the spider collecting portion of the Arboretum BioBlitz on 21 May 2010, in the Foster Island section of the University of Washington's Washington Park Arboretum. Rather than explore new territory as I'd done at recent BioBlitz events in Pierce County, this one (intended to create a biological baseline prior to expansion of the freeway bridge crossing the island), involved revisiting a place close to home, where many spider species were collected in the 1960s and 1970s. There had been some changes, the biggest of them an expanded presence of introduced spider species, now making up 40% of the collected fauna. But I also collected some natives not found here before, most notably Dictyna annulipes, found here for the 3rd time in western Washington, but common at all sites sampled; and a Philodromus crab spider that is either new, or ballooned all the way from east of the Cascades!
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2002 aerial photo of Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle

channel separating the mainland from Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Aerial view: Foster Island collecting sites in red   (USGS, 2002) Glassy channel separates Foster Island from "mainland"    © Rod Crawford
western red cedar foliage, Thuja plicata, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle riparian tall grass habitat, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Red cedar foliage (sorry about bad photo!)      © Rod Crawford Tall riparian grass produced several species          © Rod Crawford
oak leaf litter, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle sifting leaf litter on a park bench, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Oak litter, sifted later in greenhouse       © Rod Crawford Sifting cottonwood litter on a park bench          © Rod Crawford
waterlogged Waterside Trail 2 inches above lake level, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle buttercup patch, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Soggy trail barely above water level     © Rod Crawford I swept crab spiders from these buttercups          © Rod Crawford
Husky Stadium from Waterside Trail, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle Waterside Trail, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Husky Stadium looms above marsh      © Rod Crawford Waterside Trail leads to marsh boardwalk           © Rod Crawford
emergent plants in marsh, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle Tetragnatha caudata in web over marsh, Morse Wildlife Preserve, Pierce County, Washington
Emergent marsh plants, prime habitat of… © Rod Crawford …marsh specialist Tetragnatha caudata         © Lynette Schimming
crab spider Philodromus sp. (imbecillus group) from willow swamp, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle edge of willow swamp and marsh, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Unique Philodromus specimen from willow  © Rod Crawford Edge of marsh and willow swamp               © Rod Crawford
standing water in willow swamp drowns leaf litter, Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle open marsh (freeway in distance), Foster Island, Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle
Willows had wet feet        © Rod Crawford Foster Island marsh habitat         © Rod Crawford

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This page last updated 26 April, 2013