Selected photos by Rod Crawford and Della Scott from our 16 April 2021 spider collecting trip to the Cherry Point area, coastal Whatcom County, Washington. My strategy for sampling this area centered on a big grass field on public land; unfortunately, sweeping the big field netted not a single spider! Moreover, blackberry mixed with the salmonberry prevented me from getting more than a meter or so into the forest! A litter sample at the same site was only moderate. Fortunately, my first and third planned sites were better than this lackluster second; helped considerably by more productive vegetation at the beach, I ended the day with a sufficient 24 species.

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Trees beginning to leaf out           © Rod Crawford	Mountains don't look any too snowy from I-5                  © Rod Crawford
First site (tracks N of Grandview Road)   (public aerial photo)	Rod walks north along the tracks                © Della Scott
Tracks and field              © Rod Crawford	Trackside Douglas-fir, primary goal at first site           © Rod Crawford
Rod beating Douglas-fir foliage             © Della Scott	Habitats along the tracks                       © Rod Crawford
Lathys humilis                  © Rod Crawford	One train passed me as I collected            © Rod Crawford

My second site was a giant grassy field fringed with cottonwood along Lonseth Road.

Aerial view of the big field taken when it was green	We parked along deserted Lonseth Road                © Rod Crawford
Rod sweeping no spiders from acres of grass   © Della Scott	Rod dwarfed by giant expanse of grass                     © Della Scott
Cursed blackberry caught my net every few sweeps    © Rod Crawford	All that grass with no foliage spiders!          © Rod Crawford
Cottonwood stand next to field        © Rod Crawford	Cottonwood litter, fairly productive but not too diverse           © Rod Crawford
I couldn't penetrate the understory more than a meter © Rod Crawford	No place to sift but the ground, groan!                        © Rod Crawford
Found a little moss, but no moss spiders    © Rod Crawford	Sweep net empty after passing through all this grass!        © Rod Crawford

Our last and best site was a public beach at the south end of Gulf Road.

Sun glitters on the Strait of Georgia        © Della Scott	Gulf Road beach and its floral zones      (State shoreline management, 2016)
Rod sweeping the beach meadow      © Della Scott	Beach meadow zone                        © Rod Crawford
Aha, I actually swept some spiders!             © Della Scott	Zone of drift logs                         © Rod Crawford
Well-patterned Tibellus oblongus        © Rod Crawford	Della in foreground, Lummi Island in background      © Rod Crawford
Cobble beach, habitat for Pardosa lowriei    © Rod Crawford	Looking across the Strait of Georgia to Orcas Island             © Rod Crawford
Behind beach meadow, thorny wild rose    © Rod Crawford	Behind the rose zone, marsh, then forest             © Rod Crawford
Marsh habitat had spiders          © Rod Crawford	Tantalizing conifer foliage I couldn't reach behind marsh          © Rod Crawford
Forest zone behind the marsh           © Della Scott	Sun sinks in the evening                 © Rod Crawford
Mt. Baker from north of Ferndale in the evening    © Rod Crawford	Late sunset as we reach the Skagit Delta            © Rod Crawford

This page last updated 29 April, 2021