Album of Hard Scrabble Falls/Van Zandt Cemetery Field Trip

Selected photos by Rod Crawford and Laurel Ramseyer from our 14 May 2018 spider collecting trip to western Whatcom County, Washington. We first sampled at Van Zandt Cemetery, a small but very productive tract where Laurel found the best spider of the day, a male ant-mimic Synageles jumping spider! We finished the day in a gorgeous (but somewhat humid) private forest tract near Hard Scrabble Falls, which we didn't quite reach. The forest collections (likewise productive) plus the cemetery sample brought us to a great 42 species for the area! See Laurel's account here.
READ TRIP NARRATIVE PHOTO ALBUM INDEX MAIN JOURNAL INDEX
2016 aerial view of Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington
Arrow to small cemetery with its 2 big trees  (USDA, 2016) A pleasant place to visit, with or without spider collecting        © Rod Crawford
maintenance shed, Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington grassy roadside verge, Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington
Maintenance shed with several species     © Rod Crawford Grassy roadside verge was also productive          © Rod Crawford
Theridion (Platnickina) tinctum copulating at Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington field next to Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington
Theridion tinctum, pair in copula         © Laurel Ramseyer Field next to cemetery also good hunting           © Rod Crawford
Laurel Ramseyer collecting spiders from fence, Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington male ant-mimic jumping spider Synageles sp. from Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington
Laurel collecting from chain-link fence     © Rod Crawford Laurel's prize Synageles male             © Rod Crawford
crab spider Bassaniana utahensis from fir cones, Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington big planted conifer, Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington
Bassaniana utahensis from cones      © Laurel Ramseyer Big Douglas-fir started my conifer foliage sample          © Laurel Ramseyer
big Douglas-fir dropping cones, Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington planted spruces along west edge of Van Zandt Cemetery west of Van Zandt, Whatcom County, Washington
Another big tree dropped open cones      © Laurel Ramseyer Planted spruces outside cemetery fence completed foliage sample         © Laurel Ramseyer
2016 aerial view of Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington beautiful open shady mixed forest, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
Our field sites along Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch     (USDA, 2016) Beautiful mixed forest (photo doesn't do it justice)          © Rod Crawford
beautiful mixed forest tract at bottom of Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington Rod Crawford sifting litter on dappled forest floor, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
Another view of our gorgeous woodland © Laurel Ramseyer Rod (sifting) blends in with sun-dappled forest floor         © Laurel Ramseyer
tall maples and hemlocks, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington bigleaf maple trees, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
Very tall maple & hemlock trees        © Rod Crawford Maples dropped lots of productive leaf litter              © Rod Crawford
dense moss on hemlock trees, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington Laurel Ramseyer prepares to sift moss, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
Abundant moss on young hemlocks        © Rod Crawford Laurel prepares to sift moss                  © Rod Crawford
Xysticus crab spider from moss, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington juvenile orbweaver Araneus diadematus in web, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
Xysticus crab spider from moss      © Laurel Ramseyer Juvenile orbweaver in web               © Laurel Ramseyer
roadside verge in forest, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington forest understory, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
Roadside verge in forest: different spiders  © Rod Crawford Beautiful, diverse understory             © Rod Crawford
view up gulch toward falls, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington forest understory, Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
The falls are somewhere up thataway      © Rod Crawford Another tract of diverse understory            © Rod Crawford
creek in Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington creek in Hard Scrabble Falls Gulch, Whatcom County, Washington
Creekside along trail to falls       © Laurel Ramseyer Laurel got a good creekside sweep sample            © Rod Crawford

[Native Wildlife Gardening Home]     [Bug Information from The Scarabs]     [Bugs of the Month Home]

This page last updated 2 June, 2018