Album of Camano Ridge Field Trip

Selected photos by Rod Crawford and Della Scott from our 5 April 2021 spider collecting trip to Camano Ridge Preserve, a county park on former DNR working forest in the middle of northern Camano Island. The need to stay on the west side of the grid-line kept me from collecting in the unlogged part of the preserve; the area around the parking lot was clearcut in 2012, but featured a young maple tree with bushels of good leaf litter, yielding 17 litter spider species, so the relative sparsity of vegetation spiders there wasn't fatal. A few other habitats found in a later visit to Utsalady Point Park (very small and too well-groomed though it was), brought us to 30 species. And was it ever great to get in the field after such a long winter!
READ TRIP NARRATIVE PHOTO ALBUM INDEX MAIN JOURNAL INDEX
Camano Ridge Preserve trailhead area, 2014 aerial photo first stretch of trail from Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington
Trailhead & parking lot area, maple tree in red (Island County, 2014) Trail heads east from the trailhead                  © Rod Crawford
overview from parking lot, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington salmonberry and invasive blackberry, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington
Clearcut scene from the parking lot         © Della Scott Salmonberry in flower, and nasty invasive blackberry       © Rod Crawford
alder grove, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington young bigleaf maple tree, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington
Trail passes an alder grove          © Rod Crawford Young bigleaf maple that generated such great litter           © Rod Crawford
salmonberry flowers, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington maple leaf litter, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington
Salmonberry flowers will be delicious berries        © Rod Crawford Maple litter yielded 17 spider species                 © Rod Crawford
trunk moss on maple tree, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington Cybaeota shastae from moss, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington
All the moss I could find to sift            © Rod Crawford At least the moss sample gave me Cybaeota shastae         © Rod Crawford
platform where I sifted litter and moss, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington park sign, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington
"Stairs to nowhere" where I did my sifting   © Della Scott Park sign, spider collecting not forbidden                © Rod Crawford
Rod Crawford beating Douglas-fir foliage, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington Native clearcut vegetation, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington
Rod beating Douglas-fir                 © Della Scott Native clearcut vegetation                        © Rod Crawford
Rod Crawford sorting beat sample, Camano Ridge Trailhead, Island County, Washington Thymoites camano female with egg sac from Wildwood Park, Pierce County, Washington
Rod sorts through beating-net sample       © Della Scott Thymoites camano, named for this island, still lives there   © Lynette Elliott

In mid-afternoon, we moved to Utsalady Point Park on the north coast of the island.

2014 aerial view, Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington
Red dot marks Utsalady Point Park       © Rod Crawford You can see the whole park from the parking lot             © Rod Crawford
Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington sign for Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington
Grass too short                 © Della Scott Sign tells us where we are                        © Rod Crawford
History sign, Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington tall grass verge by fence, Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington
History of the Utsalady area         © Rod Crawford Even this tall grass verge added no spiders                  © Della Scott
Bald eagle, Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington ornamental cherry, Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington
American eagle surveys her domain      © Rod Crawford Ornamental cherry                        © Rod Crawford
tall Douglas-fir in Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington tall Oregon-grape in Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington
Douglas-fir towers over Rod             © Della Scott Tall Oregon-grape in blooml                         © Rod Crawford
Rod Crawford sorting beating net sample, Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington view of Poinell Point from Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington
Rod sorts another beat sample on picnic table © Della Scott Small "island" is actually Poinell Point on Whidbey Island      © Rod Crawford
vandalized danger sign, Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington view of Whidbey Island and Skagit Bay from Utsalady Point Park, Camano Island, Washington
Hazard R Us?              © Rod Crawford Eastward, looking across Skagit Bay                   © Rod Crawford
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This page last updated 12 April, 2021