Album of Toandos Peninsula Field Trip

A student in the University of Washington's sole entomology class, Anh-Tuyet Nguyen, had a class project of documenting a collecting trip. The instructor put her in touch with me and we went on 16 May to the little-known Toandos Peninsula, between the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas of northwest Washington, to collect at two sites: a wetland north of Silent Lake that I'd hoped might be a Sphagnum bog, and an old clearcut at Tabook Point where I hoped there might be beach bluff access. No luck at finding either Sphagnum or the beach, but we can't complain because we got good spiders in both areas, 32 and 37 species respectively (55 for the formerly unsampled peninsula). Photos by Rod Crawford.
READ TRIP NARRATIVE PHOTO ALBUM INDEX MAIN JOURNAL INDEX
2009 aerial photo, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington

forest at edge of shaded marsh, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington
North end of Silent Lake   (Jefferson County, 2009) Linear marsh well-shaded by adjacent forest      © Rod Crawford
leaf litter in riparian forest, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington microspider from leaf litter Walckenaeria cornuella, Linyphiidae, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington
Leaf litter, still productive in May          © Rod Crawford Walckenaeria cornuella female      © Rod Crawford
mossy trunk over shaded marsh, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington Anh-Tuyer Nguyen and friend helping collect spiders, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington
Moss hanging over the water         © Rod Crawford Can you spot two young women in blue?                  © Rod Crawford
spider Theridion lawrencei, Theridiidae, from fir foliage, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington Anh-Tuyet Nguyen and litter sifting apparatus, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington
Theridion lawrencei was beaten from the trees     © Rod Crawford Anh-Tuyet stands by my sifting set-up          © Rod Crawford
foliage along logging road, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington microspider Tiso vagans, Linyphiidae, from fir foliage, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington
Roadside foliage          © Rod Crawford Tiso vagans, my email namesake            © Rod Crawford
Rhododendron macrophyllum flower, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington Rhododendron macrophyllum bush, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington
Rhododendron flower      © Rod Crawford Rhododendron macrophyllum, understory co-dominant    © Rod Crawford
many forest habitats, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington mimetid spider Ero canionis from moss, north end of Silent Lake, Jefferson County, Washington
Small forest patch rich in spider habitats    © Rod Crawford Ero canionis sifted from moss                © Rod Crawford

Our second site, in an adjacent gridspace, was along a logging road inland from Tabook Point on the west side of the peninsula. The second-grown forest, a quarter-mile inland from Dabob Bay, was amazingly rich in spiders.

2009 aerial photo of Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington logging road through productive spider habitats, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington
Tabook Point: our site along road in lower right
(Jefferson County, 2009)		 Pleasant road through young, spider-rich regrowth            © Rod Crawford
roadside wall of Douglas-fir foliage, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington jumping spider Salticidae Habronattus ophrys male from Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington
Wall of solid Douglas-fir foliage      © Rod Crawford Habronattus ophrys: highly decorative!             © Rod Crawford
beachlike roadside habitat, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington complexity of roadside ground surface habitat, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington
Roadside echos beach habitat of H. ophrys © Rod Crawford Seemingly barren roadside, a highly complex habitat!         © Rod Crawford
wolf spider Lycosidae, Tarentula (Alopecosa) kochii, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington intact riparian enclave within old clearcut, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington
Anh-Tuyet found this Tarentula kochii also  © Rod Crawford Lovely riparian enclave hidden below road            © Rod Crawford
pocket of deep leaf litter in gully, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington sword fern Polystichum munitum in gully, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington
Nice pocket of litter in the hidden gully     © Rod Crawford Fern understory in ravine              © Rod Crawford
log with bark habitat, Tabook Point, Toandos Peninsula, Jefferson County, Washington sunset from Kingston-Edmonds ferry, Puget Sound, Washington, 16 May 2010
Log bark habitat           © Rod Crawford Sunset from the ferry            © Rod Crawford
[Native Wildlife Gardening Home]     [Bug Information from The Scarabs]     [Bugs of the Month Home]

This page last updated 29 March, 2012