Album of Grovers Creek Field Trip

Selected photos (by Rod Crawford) from a solo spider collecting trip to field, marsh and beach habitats near Kingston at the north end of Puget Sound. After brief visits to Arness Beach Park and a small cemetery, I devoted my main collecting effort to a tract of county land including a small marsh that turned out to be the headwaters of Grovers Creek. The wetland spider fauna was unusually high quality and (despite persistent dew) I ended the day with 42 spider species, including some real rarities. This important creek, even boasting a salmon hatchery 2.5 miles downstream, is not even named on the rather poor topo map covering the area.
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2002 aerial photo of Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington beach at Arness Roadside Park, near Kingston, Washington
Aerial view of headwaters collecting area    (Kitsap County, 2002) Beach at Arness Roadside Park; fog just lifted       © Rod Crawford
western thatching ant nest Formica obscuripes at Kingston Cemetery near Kingston, Washington erigonine dwarf spider Grammonota kincaidi from cedar foliage, Kingston Cemetery near Kingston, Washington
Thatching ants very much alive at Kingston Cemetery   © Rod Crawford Grammonota kincaidi was common on conifer foliage      © Rod Crawford
orb web on shed in field, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington sloping grassy field wet with dew, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Zygiella web on shed in the big field      © Rod Crawford Large grass field still matted with dew in early afternoon      © Rod Crawford
bigleaf maple Acer macrophyllum leaves turning color, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington bigleaf maple trees Acer macrophyllum in fall colors, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Bigleaf maple leaves just turning     © Rod Crawford Other maples had fully turned color            © Rod Crawford
male carapace of undescribed erigonine dwarf spider, Oecothorax sp., Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington alder trees Alnus rubra at edge of cattail marsh, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Male carapace of an undescribed Oedothorax     © Rod Crawford Alders at edge of cattail marsh: good spiders in litter           © Rod Crawford
Douglas-fir foliage Pseudotsuga menziesii, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington high quality cattail-grass-shrub marsh, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Douglas-fir foliage at marsh edge         © Rod Crawford Headwaters marsh with very high quality spider fauna         © Rod Crawford
female cobweb spider Theridion tinctum from Arness Beach Park near Kingston, Washington standing water marsh, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Introduced Theridion tinctum at all sites     © Rod Crawford Open water part of marsh               © Rod Crawford
mushroom beside marsh, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington mushrooms beside marsh, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
One big mushroom        © Rod Crawford Several smaller mushrooms          © Rod Crawford
female erigonine dwarf spider Walckenaeria auranticeps, ventral, from fir foliage, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington linyphiid sheet-web spider Bathyphantes brevipes male, from marsh, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Walckenaeria auranticeps, ventral       © Rod Crawford Male Bathyphantes brevipes from marsh       © Rod Crawford
stand of Phragmites australis grass at marsh edge, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington diverse area of marshy meadow, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Phragmites grass stand at edge of marshy area     © Rod Crawford Diverse part of marshy meadow         © Rod Crawford
juvenile harvestman Paraplatybunus triangularis from litter, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington large grassy field at dusk, Grovers Creek headwaters area, near Kingston, Washington
Young Paraplatybunus triangularis overwinters in litter © Rod Crawford Finally, at dusk, the big field was dry enough to sweep!     © Rod Crawford

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This page last updated 23 October, 2009