First today is the spider I found in one of the big tomato pots. I’d noticed a messy-looking web in the pot, not a nice neat symmetrical web like many of the orbweavers, and I had brushed the web away. After watering today, I noticed a spider running around in the pot. I took a few photos and checked them on Bug Guide, and guess what? I had a poisonous spider in the tomato pot!
It was a Brown Widow, a brown/tan spider with an orange hourglass on its abdomen. I hate to think how casually I brushed away that spider web! The spider seems to have left the pot now and I don’t know where it went, but I’m definitely keeping my eye out for it. In this photo you can see the orange hourglass on its abdomen. Settings were f/7.1, 1/50, ISO 320.
Brown Widows live in warmer areas and are known to build webs in flower pots, under yard chairs and tables, around trashcans, and similar places, so you may want to check your own yard. While they are poisonous, they don’t tend to be aggressive and will mostly bite if provoked or if a person is pressed against them. Their bite can be painful, but it doesn’t usually cause severe damage to a healthy person, which is good to know. I still don’t want this spider hanging around my tomato pots! Settings were f/7.1, 1/50, ISO 320.
I saw two dragonflies today, and I think both were Eastern Pondhawks. This one is either a female or a young male. Settings were f/7.1, 1/125, ISO 200.
And I think this one is an older male with much of its body turning blue. Edited to add: I believe this is actually a male Blue Dasher, not a Pondhawk. Thanks for the help, Mike! Settings were f/7.1, 1/1000, ISO 200.
A Green Metallic Sweat Bee was busy visiting flowers in the yard. It has a bright green head and thorax. Settings were f/7.1, 1/640, ISO 200.
And then there were the anoles. I didn’t see either Green Anole today, but over in the tomato pots there were three Brown Anoles: a young adult male and two smaller, younger juveniles. They were all keeping an eye on each other with a lot of head bobbing and dewlap flashing. Here’s a little one watching the bigger anole up ahead. Settings were f/7.1, 1/1000, ISO 200.
A young anole flashing its dewlap. This dewlap is small–maybe because this is a very young male, or maybe because it’s a female. This particular anole was very assertive and active, moving around a lot, bobbing its head, and displaying its dewlap. Settings were f/7.1, 1/320, ISO 200.
Another dewlap shot with the busy young anole. Settings were f/7.1, 1/250, ISO 200.
And here’s the adult male. Settings were f/7.1, 1/160, ISO 200.
Last for today is a fern on the palm tree. Settings were f/7.1, 1/400, ISO 320.
Aug 11, 2012 @ 23:27:15
The chest markings on the blue dragonfly suggest to me he is probably a male Blue Dasher dragonfly, not an Eastern Pondhawk. Cool photos of the spider. I find them to be almost impossibly difficult to photograph.
Aug 12, 2012 @ 12:52:56
Mike, thank you for the dragonfly ID! The eyes didn’t look right for a Pondhawk, but seeing the stripes on the upper greenish body and knowing the males do turn blue made me think that was it. I looked up the Blue Dasher and that is a much better match for my dragonfly.
The light was pretty good for the spider shots which helped a lot.
Aug 17, 2012 @ 00:01:38
The insects (in this as well as in past posts) always seem to express a lot of personality, thanks to your skilled photography!
There is always a purpose to every movement/body position that is photographed.