Travis McEnery

A preserved Philodromus praelustris, a resplendent running crab spider.

A through-the-eyepiece view of the claw tuft of a resplendent running crab spider, shot on a phone with a kids' toy microscope.

When you need a picture of a spider's claw tuft and the only instrument you have that gets close enough is your kids' old toy microscope. Kinda blurry but it's visible!

This little tiny Larinioides tho...
(Whole spider is maybe the size of a lentil)

That's the ID I'm getting from other experienced folks, too, so that's almost definitely it. Those suggestions were kinda funny though.

A screenshot of an iNaturalist observation being made using a photo of what is very clearly a spider, and the suggested ID'S range from Green Pepe to glow worms to bats, with not a spider of any kind making the list.

iNaturalist is normally pretty good at figuring out whatever I throw at it, but it seems to be having a real bad day today.

Still don't know what spider this is, but I'm pretty sure it's not a bat.

Finally saw Revenge of the Sith, and I cannot believe there are really people out there who think it's the best film of the franchise. There are exactly two contenders for that title: The Empire Strikes Back, and Rogue One. I'm not actually sure which of those two wins.

I will die on this hill.

Interesting! It looks to me like the spider is laying down silk there for some reason. I've never seen a Parson do that out in the open like that though.

I don't know why this seems so right but it just does.

I actually don't know if this has been tried, to be honest. I haven't really seen my spiders respond to music, but they must be able to detect it to some degree.

The Pentax Papilio II close focus binoculars which are perfect for bug people. You can get a close stereoscopic view of stuff in a wide variety of conditions, like when a spider is on the ceiling or just put of reach.

Ok, bug nerds. I just got myself the Pentax Papilio II 8.5x binoculars and they ARE AWESOME. The selling point? They can focus on objects as little as 50cm/1.6ft away. They're basically a low-power stereoscope that you can just pick up and point at stuff.

us.ricoh-imaging.com/product/papi...

Today I learned there is a ChatGPT "spider ID assistant."

Please do not use ChatGPT or any other generative 'AI' to identify spiders (or anything else for that matter). A model trained on the current quagmire of misinformation and misidentified images online cannot be effective.

A featherlegged orbweaver sits in an orb web that is covered in pollen particles.

A featherlegged orbweaver in a pollen-dusted web. These fascinating venom-less spiders so often go unnoticed, as they're pretty tiny. I like them a lot.

#Pentax K-5ii, 100mm Macro WR, flash

The coolest kind. ;)

A bunch of cross orbweaver spiderlings with yellow butts sharing their natal web before dispersing.

A grown cross orbweaver sits at the hub of her web against a black background.

It's that time of year here when the cross orb weavers are emerging, both spiderlings just hatching to begin their lives and older juveniles from last fall who have overwintered at least once. Love these spiders.

#Pentax K-5ii, 100mm Macro WR, flash

That's awesome! Those are amazing spiders. I've never seen one (I don't think they occur this far north), and it's cool you recognized it by behaviour!

A Ranier's patterned jumping spider sits atop a rock and looks curiously past the camera with his stripey face and black palps. Pentax K-5ii, Pentax DFA 100mm Macro WR with Raynox DCR250, Promaster 7500EDF flash, homebuilt diffuser (courtesy of Sean McCann)

This jumper was a new one on me. Sittisax ranieri, Ranier's Patterned Jumping Spider. Thanks to @cataranea.bsky.social and @ibycter.bsky.social for getting me there, and for helping me figure out how to get the most out of my equipment.

Cape Spear, Newfoundland
#Pentax K-5ii, see alt for more

I might add that it's barely a "microscope" - the magnification is comparable to my entry-level stereoscope (20x, I think?)

Handheld Digital Microscope Pro | CelestronCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCombined ShapeCom... The Celestron Handheld Digital Microscope Pro is an easy to use, low-power microscope with a 5.0 MP sensor for capturing photos and video of your discoveries. At low magnification, the Handheld Digita...

It's this unit here:

www.celestron.com/products/han...

Nothing too fancy but it does ok, for a pretty reasonable price, and I like that you can use it Handheld or in the focusing stand.

Grabbed a stick from outside to use for some spider photography, then noticed some tiny life on it and threw it under the digital microscope. Caught this adorable moment. Little guy just hitched a ride and snail didn't seem to mind.

Just spent an hour and a half trying to get two running crab spiders to fall in love so I could film the proceedings but it was like watching nervous ninth-graders trying to flirt at a school dance. Will try again later.

Glad to know the channel had helped!

A tiny Palearctic ant-mimic jumping spider looks straight into the camera while perched on an egg carton.

Palearctic ant-mimic jumping spider crouches vertically on an egg carton.

Top-down view of a Palearctic jumping spider, clearly showing the white bands across the back of the head and the abdomen.

A first for me today. While I've come across other ant-mimic spiders, never before had I actually found an ant-mimic JUMPING spider. They definitely earn their name.

Synageles venator, Palearctic ant-mimic jumping spider
#Pentax K-5ii, 100mm #Macro WR, flash

Good for you. You don't need they're nonsense.

A dark fishing spider with very dramatic eyes munching on some kind of insect.

Found this guy on my shed today, with his lunch still in his mouth, and he was kind enough to stay in one place long enough for me to run inside and grab the big camera after snapping a bit of video with the phone.

Dolomedes tenebrosus
#Pentax K-5ii, 100mm WR #macro, flash
#photography

I've seen clips like this, though not this exact one. It's still wild to see!

Taat's more than I'm doing, really. I'm just looking. When I see something I don't quite recognize, I collect it and photograph it to ID it. Occasionally it's something rare or new.

I think it's just because that species closely resembles members of the Mimetidae family, the pirate spiders, though it actually belongs to the Theridiidae family.

Taylor Tomlinson and Elle Cordova! YES.

Working on finding new spiders in my yard (and occasionally new ones in my province!) too. Definitely an excitement in that.

A false pirate spider in a rare moment of calm.

A two-banded antmimic spider showing off his massive palps. What a guy.

Just a couple of the lesser-known ones that frequent my front yard. Platnickina tincta, the false pirate spider, is an easily-overlooked cobweb weaver, while Castianeira cingulata, the two-banded antmimic, is a fast-running ground dweller. Neither was cooperative.

#Pentax K-5ii, 100mm Macro WR

An image of a trailer hitch that somehow morphs into a double-decker RV that is also a motorcycle, apparently.

AI in the wild, folks. This was an ad on my FB feed for Temu, advertising a 1.25" to 2" trailer hitch adapter. I'm fairly certain that those don't look in real life like this one in Temu's product image.