Selected photos by Rod
Crawford and Laurel Ramseyer from our 29 August 2021 spider collecting trip to Douglas Fir Campground and West Church Ridge (NW of Mt. Baker), Whatcom County, Washington. At the campground we got a good head start of 19 species thanks mainly to Laurel finding two distinct moss habitats. A narrow dirt road got us all the way to the top of West Church Ridge (just west of Church Mountain) without much trouble, where we got good samples from the clearing around a weather station, added a few from roadside foliage, aerial webs and dead wood back in the second growth, and finally found some very good leaf litter in a cottonwood grove for a surprising total of 40 species. Our late August surprise!
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| Crest of West Church Ridge; our sites in red (NAIP, 2017) | North Fork Nooksack River © Rod Crawford |
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| Campground entrance © Rod Crawford | Big red cedar trunk © Rod Crawford |
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| Tables available for sifting © Rod Crawford | Reasonably rich understory © Rod Crawford |
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| Along the river, trees were all mossy © Rod Crawford | Plenty of moss to sift — but plenty! © Rod Crawford |
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| Weather station at summit of West Church Ridge © Rod Crawford | Also a cloud-obscured view of Mt. Baker © Rod Crawford |
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| Edge of clearing looks promising © Rod Crawford | Much higher Church Mountain to the east © Rod Crawford |
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| Fireweed in clearing © Rod Crawford | Sweeping the clearing wasn't very rich, but worthwhile © Rod Crawford |
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| Rod ready to sweep some more © Laurel Ramseyer | Sun-warmed western hemlock foliage at clearing edge © Rod Crawford |
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| Pearly everlasting also common in clearing © Rod Crawford | Western hemlock in shade along road © Laurel Ramseyer |
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| Female Misumena vatia from retreat © Laurel Ramseyer | Misumena vatia's egg retreat in goatsbeard leaf © Laurel Ramseyer | |
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| Female Araneus nordmanni © Laurel Ramseyer | Araneus nordmanni web © Laurel Ramseyer |
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| Pityohyphantes sp. in web © Laurel Ramseyer | Rod seeking dead wood in closed canopy forest © Laurel Ramseyer |
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| Rich cottonwood litter © Rod Crawford | Trunks of isolated cottonwood grove © Rod Crawford |
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| I sifted 9 species from cottonwood litter © Rod Crawford | Broken rock outcrop, pika habitat © Rod Crawford |
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| Walckenaeria cornuella from litter © Rod Crawford | Micaria pulicaria from litter © Rod Crawford |
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| Douglas-fir foliage © Laurel Ramseyer | Sunset along highway to Bellingham © Rod Crawford |
This page last updated 6 September, 2021