Photographing large spiders on mule deer isn’t an everyday occurrence for me.
Birds were slow on Antelope Island yesterday morning so I spent some time photographing spiders near a drying pond. The island is crawling with large orb weaver spiders this time of year and the opportunities with them for nature photographers are endless.
Many of the island’s orb weavers are quite handsome but not everyone appreciates having them around.
I was concentrating on this spider through my lens when I was seriously startled by a crashing sound coming from the tall cattails and phrags just a few feet away from my pickup. I was unaware there was a large critter hiding in there and it apparently decided it wasn’t comfortable with the clicking sounds coming from our two cameras so it burst out of the reeds in a semi-panic, ran just a few feet away, and then turned around to give me a few profile shots.
It was a mule deer in disarray. Crashing through the reeds had covered the deer’s face with spider silk and the debris that had stuck to it. And sure enough, one of the spiders that had produced the silk came along for the ride. The deer almost seems to be trying to focus its eyes on the spider in what was probably a cross-eyed sort of way.
A closer look at the same photo. This appears to be a standoff with the spider daring the deer to make the first move.
There were actually two spiders hitchhiking on the deer’s face – there’s another one under its left eye.
Other than this excitement there wasn’t much else happening on the island so I headed for home across the causeway where another unique natural phenomenon awaited me. But first a little background:
- The Great Salt Lake has the largest staging concentration of Wilson’s Phalaropes in the world as they migrate south from their northern breeding grounds. Numbers of these birds on the lake often exceed 500,000 and that doesn’t include the smaller number of Red-necked Phalaropes mixed in with them. They’re here now and even though most are usually not particularly close to shore they’re quite a sight to see far out on the lake.
As I drove east along the causeway this is the sight that greeted me perhaps 3/4 of a mile away – kabillions of phalaropes in the distance as they fattened up on brine flies and brine shrimp and rested before continuing their journey. What you see here is only a tiny portion of the phalaropes out there – these masses of birds went on for several miles. And the lake is huge so who really knows how many phalaropes are on the lake right now – certainly not me.
Every once in a while large murmurations of phalaropes would take flight above the water in living, churning masses that turned from dark to light and back again as they cavorted in the sunlight. Watching them was truly hypnotizing.
If you live close to the island I highly recommend that you make the trip and enjoy one of the wonders of nature. I think early morning light provides the best experience.
If you go I’m confident you won’t regret making the trip (but bring spotting scopes or binocs because most of them aren’t particularly close to the causeway).
Ron
PS – The Great Salt Lake is a hugely important stopover for many other species of migrating birds (in addition to phalaropes). Check out this link if you want to be impressed by the numbers.
Love that shot of the murmuration with the reflection, spectacular with the water so calm! I love the spiders too 🙂
Ron, Usually you list your camera settings for your photographs. With today’s contrasting images (both close-ups and long distance shots) could you also list the settings you used? Thanks, Dan
Could the reddish/orange stuff be baby spiders? I can almost see legs on one of the orange blobs but since I’m studying a low res file I can’t say for sure.
Mark, I just looked in detail at the high res file and I’m pretty sure it isn’t baby spiders. Still not sure what it is though.
I usher spiders outside here. It is one of my roles. My partner cannot cope with them and will kill them if I don’t. Interestingly I have been fanged twice and he is the one who can’t cope. We had a cat who ate them – but he spat out the drumsticks.
Love todays post and would so love to see a murmurration for myself. And to hear it.
“but he spat out the drumsticks”
I’ve said it before, EC – I love your way with words.
Wow, great shots Ron!
Thanks, Jean.
Wonderful shots Ron!! I LOVE the spider ones so much. You see, I love spiders, adore orb spiders and their magnificent webs. I carry spiders outside if they come in our home and my family thinks I am crazy. But as a little girl I did this endlessly at camp when the other girls threatened to squash a daddy long legs. They would say “Barby come get it or I will squash it!” I ran endlessly carrying them out of the cabin. My dad who was a naturalist and loved spiders taught me to like them too. He would let them mountain climb all over his hairy arms to explain about them and show me which were harmless etc. That was what made me fearless of insects. One day I ran to my Dad and said “Daddy look what I have crawling up my arm, I was so excited.” He picked it up off my arm and said, “Barby this is one kind of insect you do not want on your arm.” It was a tick! 😊
Interesting story about your background with spiders, Barby. Thanks for providing it.
Amazing series Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Wonderful photos. The head on shot is priceless. I do not envy the deer. I like spiders but not on me. We have 2 indoor resident spiders in our house my daughter will not let me relocate. The one in the bathroom corner looks like a male black widow. So far my son has not seen them or they would be history.
I will have to stop by the causeway again. I was there Monday, around noon, when returning home from a drive to WRC. There were many massive black rafts of birds way out in the lake, but I did not see a murmuration. I love the sound of so many birds flying. It gives me goose bumps, and I feel like I have been touched by magic.
Lol I like the message your server just gave me, ” you are posting comments to quickly, slow down”.
Ha, I didn’t even know my server did that!
April, you usually have to wait a few minutes for the murmurations but at least in the early mornings they’re pretty reliable. They were too far away for me to hear the sounds of them flying.
Beautiful spiders! Spiders became friends and protected — who squishes their friends? — after I read Charlotte’s Web in first grade. My dad even had a couple of tarantulas as classroom pets back in the day when we could. They came home every long weekend and vacation. One of them was extremely friendly and would crawl up onto my hand and just hang out on my lap or shoulder. I do admit, however, to some creative vocabulary when I walk through a web. I feel for the muley (oh deer!). 😉
Gorgeous shots of the pharalopes! How do the fly like that without crashing into each other!?!? Amazing! I can only imagine seeing it in person. Sigh.
Marty, I had a tarantula for several years that I kept in the classroom and took home during the summer. Loved that spider!
We haven’t been allowed to have them for over 20 years. Lots of other restrictions on classroom animals now too. 🙁
BTW, spellcheck didn’t like phalarope the first time, and changed it to pharalope — not sure why…
Not a big fan of tarantulas, but it’s more of a balance of power issue than a fear. LOL! Again, personal space. The dogs and the hawks are one thing, and in the paradigm that I can’t run faster than folks with four legs or wings, eight legs are a whole ‘nother matter indeed. 🙂
I’m a live-and-let-live kinda girl, too, but I’d draw the line at a giant spider on my nose! Poor deer. But interesting spider photos (prefer to see them from the safety of my iPad), and love the image of the gathering of thousands of birds on the lake (which I’d like to see in person someday). Fantastic!
I don’t think the spiders bothered the deer much, Chris. It seemed more concerned about me…
I can’t say I much like looking at spider shots but this was (as always!) a worthwhile post, especially that photo of the murmuration. Thanks for taking the time to link to the page with the stats on birds. I really enjoy learning about wildlife.
I’m glad you appreciated the link, Linda. Thanks.
I enjoy seeing what I call ‘garden’ spiders. I like it when they are bigger and I can approach them, rather than finding them crawling on me. The other day we had an encounter with a tarantula, which was fun. Indoor spiders, on the other hand, tend to give me the creeps. The cloud of Phalaropes is just amazing. And thank you for adding a new word to my vocabulary (kabillion). 🙂
“Kabillion” is a mathematically accurate word if I ever heard one, Susan! 🙂
My grandmother lived in Coral Gables, Fla. with two HUGE spiders named Uncle Henry and Charlie’s Aunt. They lived in an empty Kleenex box in her bathroom for years. When she died, we inheirited them. I feel sorry for that poor deer! It probably can’t even rub the webs off in the brush without accumulating even more… The bird masses are amazing! I’ve seen huge, dark clouds of migraring birds, but never anything lkie that!
I think I’d have liked your grandmother, Patty…
She would have liked you, too!
Hi Ron,
Fun stuff! Spiders are a protected group in our house. Even our (indoor) cat knows not to bother therm – she chases all sorts of “bugs”, but when I notice her “on set” I will usually find a spider, which I rescue and take to a safe place. Weird, I know…
And those phalarope numbers are impressive. I have seen large assemblages at Mono Lake in CA on many occasions, but nothing like what you experienced. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Dick
Sounds like you have a well-trained cat, Dick. Thank you.
I’ve come to appreciate spiders beginning when I lived in Texas–Houston, Dallas, then Fort Worth–where insects are abundant. HOWEVER, that idea only remains true if they leave me alone! I’m a real live-and-let-live kind of gal, but I demand my personal space 🙂 Had I been in that mule deer’s position, I’d have turned into a ninja warrior!
Just curious, but do you know what the cluster of small reddish/burnt orange round things are just below the deer’s right ear?
And oh the murmurations! Magical! How do they DO that? Just magical!
No, I don’t know what that red stuff is, Laura. Tried to figure it out but came up empty.
Laura, I think they might be seeds of some sort. They remind me of buckwheat. There’s more of them elsewhere on the deer’s face.
I was thinking seeds or seed pods, too. So much I don’t know in this world 🙂
That first image is fantastic, great shots of everything!
The Phalarope sight is one to behold, thanks for the images, much appreciated. I used to see all three species in the Bay of Fundy some years ago on their way south, maybe a measly 200-300 at time, not even close to your view. Fantastic sight and images.
I’d love to see a Red Phalarope one day, Dick.
Great photo’s of the spiders and the Muley decorated with them! 🙂 I enjoy spiders “outside” or in the house plants where they “belong” – used to be terrified of them. 🙂 The number of phalaropes and the murmuration is amazing. Variety is the spice and a nice break occasionally.
Thank you, Judy.
I love it when you photograph spiders, insects, and other microfauna ( I appreciate them more than the deer did, I’m sure )–and a lenticular cloud of birds ! So happy to see them in such great numbers……..
I’m glad you enjoyed the spider photos, Kris. Some folks won’t even open the post when they see the word “spiders” in the title…
Wow! Fun post today. The phalaropes are fantastic. I once was crashing though tall grasses on a friend’s property when I felt sticky spider silk all over my arms. I looked down and I had a huge orb spider on my chest–its body was larger than a quarter. It scared the heck out of me. Now I’m much more
mindful when I walk through tall grasses and woods.
Those guys get your attention, don’t they, Sharon! For obvious reasons I don’t walk through the brush on Antelope Island this time of year…
Thank you for the fun/informative post this morning! It’s inspiring to read and dream of visiting Utah again as I drink my morning coffee at work… about to begin the daily drudgery…
I’m glad you weren’t put off by the spiders, Joanne. Thanks.