1-Apr-2016 Fife, Tacoma and Fircrest, Washington

Site location map. Click to enlarge.

Last December I spent a rainy afternoon scouting out future cone tapping sites in and near Tacoma.  As I said at the time, greater Tacoma was my destination because it is the next metropolitan area south of Federal Way, the southern-most place I've found the introduced crab spider Ozyptila praticola (Thomisidae).  Now, four months later, I finally had the opportunity to return and tap those reconnoitered cones.

Fallback site in Fife

1. Fife
My first stop was the industrial area along the the northern bank of the Puyallup river, in Fife.  My plan was to tap cones dropped by the tall pines flanking the gates of Praxair, which I'd spotted months ago from Interstate 5 and had been dreaming of tapping ever since.  When I arrived, however, I found road construction materials and machinery lining the road in front of Praxair and disturbing my intended cone accumulations.  The congested roadway also made collecting along its margins too dangerous for my taste.  So much for plans!  Turning the car around, I was happy to almost immediately spot some large black pines (Pinus nigra) growing in the back corner of a nearby parking lot.  Beneath them were dozens of well-opened cones.  This would be my first site of the day.

Black pine cones on needle litter, Fife

Birdsong had been the soundtrack of my cone tapping on Lummi Island.  Here the soundscape was composed of peculiar clicking sounds coming from locomotives parked on the railroad tracks across the ditch, the bang-clang of rail cars being linked together, gaseous squeals emanating from Praxair, and the dull roar of Interstate 5.  Urban sampling: not so glamorous.

I tapped 75 cones and collected 7 spiders, all juveniles.  Most were the introduced European species Enoplognatha probably-ovata (Theridiidae), one of the most common spiders I find in fallen cones in western Washington.  I found no O. praticola.

A ponderosa pine dominates
the tiny greenspace next to
the fire station

Shore pines with fallen cones beneath

2. Tacoma Fire Station 2
Next I crossed the river and entered Tacoma proper.  A tiny triangle of land behind Tacoma Fire Station 2 supported three species of pine, each of which had dropped fully opened cones.  I sampled two separate cone accumulations.  Set I was comprised of Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and black pine (P. nigra) cones lying on mossy and/or grassy ground or needle litter.  Set II was comprised of shore pine (P. contorta var. contorta) and black pine cones lying mostly on bare ground or a very thin layer of pine needles.

Set I cones on moss

Xysticus cristatus female

I tapped 75 cones from set I and collected 7 spiders and 2 identifiable species. Both were introduced: Tenuiphantes tenuis (Linyphiidae) and Xysticus cristatus (Thomisidae).  From set II I tapped 100 cones and collected 12 spiders and 2 identifiable species, this time X. cristatus and a linyphiid which I haven't identified yet.  I hadn't been aware of the presence of X. cristatus in Washington until our recent trip to Lummi Island, where I found it in meadow sweeps as well as fallen cones.  Just in the nick of time to prepare me for identifying these Tacoma spiders!

I found no O. praticola in either set of fire station cones.

Shore pine cones

Shore pines

3. Near Humane Society
Continuing westward, I next stopped at a semi-industrial plaza at the corner of Center and S. Pine that had a row of shore pines planted along its border.  Tapping 50 cones there I collected only one spider, a juvenile Phrurotimpus sp. (Phrurolithidae).  I often find one or more juvenile Phrurotimpus in my western Washington cone samples, and indeed had already done so this day in the Fife and fire station samples.  While I was processing the cones, a crow plucked a stick from the tree canopy above me.  Nest-building time!

Massive western white pine
in Fircrest

4.  Fircrest
To this point none of the day's samples had been very speciose.  That changed with the fallen western white pine (P. monticola) cones I tapped in suburban Fircrest.  I collected 25 spiders and 7 species from 55 cones!  I haven't yet identified two of the species, but the others were all western Washington urban cone standards: the theridiid Cryptachaea blattea and the linyphiids Lepthyphantes leprosus, Tachygyna vancouverana, and Tenuiphantes tenuis.  No O. praticola, however.

The Ozyptila praticola question
All told, I tapped 355 cones at 4 sites this day.  If O. praticola is present in the greater Tacoma area, it isn't numerous or widespread enough to be detected by my sampling method.  I also didn't find any O. praticola last fall in the cities of Lakewood and DuPont, which lie immediately south of Tacoma.

Nest-building crow with twig in beak.

30-Mar-2016 Lummi Island, Washington

Site location map. Click to enlarge.

Spring!  What a treat to spend a day outdoors sampling spiders and not be in danger of either heat stroke or hypothermia, rattlesnakes or rain!  Conditions were perfect for Rod Crawford, Jessi Bishopp and me to enjoy gorgeous weather and beautiful scenery while sampling the last two unsampled gridspaces on Lummi Island.

Sitka spruce in pasture

Thanks to the good folks at the Lummi Island Heritage Trust, we had permission to sample in a privately owned pasture ("Pasture" on my map, above) and then in the Curry Preserve.  Neither location had pine trees, but there was no shortage of other conifers dropping cones for me to tap.

Sitka spruce cone on needle litter.

Painfully pointy spruce needles, ouch!

When we arrived at the pasture, I began sampling the first conifer vegetation I came to without first identifying the tree.  Ouch, that was a mistake!  The painfully sharp needles on that tree reminded me that we were in Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) territory.  This isn't a species I see very often, so I hadn't ever tapped its cones before.  Now was my opportunity.

Woodlouse coming out of cone
scale pocket

Woodlice and a weevil

The pasture and surrounding forest were full of birdsong. I tapped 50 cones to the hoots of a barred owl, the rasping song of an Anna's hummingbird, and the bubbly song of several Pacific wrens.  Too bad I wasn't studying woodlice.  They were by far the most numerous occupants of these cones.  I also tapped out several weevils.  The little pockets created by the wavy cone scales seemed perfect for housing these tiny animals.  As for spiders, I collected 5 juveniles.  Most were Phrurotimpus sp. (Phrurolithidae).  Maybe it wasn't the most exciting cone spider sample, but now I can add Sitka spruce to the list of tree species whose fallen cones are used by spiders!

Looking across meadow from beneath
my Douglas-fir cone source at Curry
Preserve

The fallen cone microhabitat at
Curry Preserve

My cone source at the Curry Preserve was a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) growing at a meadow edge.  This meant that most of the cones I tapped were lying on meadow grass, a configuration I haven't sampled much.  I tapped 50 cones and collected 6 spiders from at least 5 species.  Unsurprisingly, this batch of cone spiders very much mirrored what I had already swept from the meadow, and included Araniella displicata (Araneidae), Xysticus cristatus (Thomisidae) and Zelotes sp. (Gnaphosidae).

Read Rod's trip narrative here and view his album here!

An Aculepeira sp. orbweaver in its rush-top retreat at Curry Preserve

7-Mar-2016 U-W Campus, Washington

Site location map. Click to enlarge.

The day was dry and sunny but only about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, perfect weather to find insects and spiders on the sun-warmed sides of brick buildings.  So I decided to spend an hour on the University of Washington campus in Seattle attempting to find more of the introduced European jumping spider Pseudeuophrys lanigera.  I'm not quite satisfied with having documented only two populations in the area.

Oecobius navus on building exterior

Sitticus pubescens on building exterior

Spiders weren't as numerous on the buildings as I'd hoped, but I did find what was probably an Oecobius navus (Oecobiidae), and one female jumping spider.

Sitticus pubescens epigynum

As it turned out, the jumping spider wasn't a P. lanigera, but a different introduced European species, Sitticus pubescens!  This is only the second record of S. pubescens in Washington state.  The other was a male that Rod Crawford found a few years ago in Everett.

Eastern white pine

My search of building exteriors led me to the Communications Building, which has a huge eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) growing near its entrance.  Beneath the tree were hundreds of fallen cones, apparently undisturbed by groundskeepers.  How could I resist?!

Fallen pine cones on a sumptuous bed
of needle litter

I tapped 50 fallen cones and collected 7 spiders and two identifiable species: Ozyptila praticola (Thomisidae) and Diplostyla concolor (Linyphiidae), both also introduced European species.  I also tapped 6 harvestmen and countless sow bugs, snails and insects from these cones.

Tiny snails tapped from cones

I'm quite amused by how the search for one introduced species keeps leading to the discovery of another and yet another.  Last fall, while tapping cones in Mukilteo, Washington to determine the local range of the introduced species Ozyptila praticola, I discovered the presence of a different introduced species, Pseudeuophrys lanigera.  Then this day, when in search of more P. lanigera, I confirmed the presence yet another introduced species, Sitticus pubescens.  If I search for more S. pubescens elsewhere in the city, I wonder which "new" introduced species I'll find next.

Putting flies into perspective.

25-Feb-2016 Square Lake, Washington

Site location. Click to enlarge.

Considering that February is the heart of western Washington's rainy season, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much spidering I've been able to do this month.  And since this past week was essentially rain-free, Rod Crawford and I were able to squeeze in one additional field trip before the month draws to a close.

This white pine was conveniently located
in the middle of the trail!

The day's destination was the northeastern corner of Square Lake, which is located a few miles south of Port Orchard on the Kitsap Peninsula.  Note the ridges trending NNE-SSW on the site location map above.  They're relics of the Fraser glaciation. A very interesting topography!

When Rod sampled a nearby gridspace last year, he noted that western white pines (Pinus monticola) were present there.  Always a good enticement for me, even better that it turned out to be true for this site as well!  I was delighted to spot numerous pines next to the trail during the short hike to the lake, not to mention one growing smack dab in middle of the trail itself.  And fallen cones were plentiful.

Mossy pine cone

Despite no rain reported in the area several days prior to our visit, the cones were heavy with absorbed moisture and full of lots of organic debris.  As if to emphasize the moist fertility of the area, many cones even had moss growing on them.

I tapped my usual sample of 50 cones and collected 10 spiders and 57 (!) pseudoscorpions.  All but one of the spiders were from the family Linyphiidae (the other was an agelenid), while all but one of the pseudoscorpions were from the family Neobisiidae (the other was from Chthoniidae).  I later tapped an additional 10 cones which produced 2 more linyphiids and even more pseudoscorpions, the latter which I didn't have the heart to collect.

Female Wubana pacifica

A bit blurry, but this photo shows
Wubana's white "butt spot" (not
the technical term :)

Three spider species were identifiable in my cones sample: Frederickus coylei, Wubana pacifica and Lepthyphantes zelatus.  Although all three species are common in western Washington leaf litter, we didn't collect the first two in any other microhabitat at this site.  Once again, cone tapping saves the day!  Or at least, helps fill out the site species list.

Just a few of the dozens of pseudo-
scorpions I tapped from pine cones

Rod noted how rotund many of the pseudoscorpions were and wondered whether they were perhaps full of eggs.  Whatever the explanation, they sure seemed to be flourishing in these pine cones.  At an average of 1.14 pseudoscorpions per cone, this was by far the highest density I've tapped from fallen cones.  The next highest density was 0.56 that I tapped in October 2011 from ponderosa pine cones in Brooks Memorial State Park (Klickitat County).

Since western white pines are not the dominant forest tree species anywhere in Washington state, I've had to hone my pine-spotting skills in order to find them.  When I have a good line of sight into the forest canopy, I usually find them by spotting the tree's feathery foliage and large, pendant cones.  But when I'm inside a dense forest where the canopy is just a distant, indistinguishable mass of green, I simply search for fallen cones along the trail and look for the western white pine's unique bark pattern on nearby tree trunks.

Looking up the unusual pine
with the alder-appearing trunk

Mature western white pines have fairly smooth grey bark broken into flat rectangular scales.  It's often described as "checkered".  The pattern is always visible because pine bark is never obscured by epiphytes...or so I thought until we visited Square Lake!  Almost immediately upon hitting the trail I spotted the foliage and pendant cones of a nearby mature white pine.  But as my gaze slid down the trunk of the tree, I was surprised to see that it was entirely covered in epiphytes.  Had I not seen its crown, I would have been certain I was looking at an alder!  Alder (Alnus) bark is typically "painted" with accumulations of mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae.  As the saying goes, to every rule there is an exception.

Tree trunk comparison. A. typical white pine, B. unusual alder-appearing white pine, C. typical alder

Read Rod's trip description here.

21-Feb-2016 Bellevue Highlands, Washington

Site location map. Click to enlarge.

Another sampling event in the catch-as-catch-can category, this time in the Highlands area of Bellevue.  Although I usually keep my nose to the grindstone on spider collecting ventures, especially short ones like this (I had only 2 hours, less if it started raining), I couldn't resist taking the time to stop at one of the area's numerous Indian grocery stores first to stock up on snacks.  What a treat!

Cone source: Pinus nigra trees

Cone microhabitat, scales hardly open

Not far from the grocery I found my cone source: eight black pines (Pinus nigra) planted along 140th Ave NE.  These trees had been heavy cone producers, but few of the cones had more than a few scales even partially open.  I see this repeatedly in P. nigra in western Washington, where this exotic tree species is widely planted.

Tenuiphantes tenuis in my net

Preserved Erigone male

With some diligent searching, however, I managed to scrounge up 50 of these barely-opened cones, and tapped 9 spiders from them.  Immediately identifiable were female Tenuiphantes tenuis and Tachygyna vancouverana, both from the family Linyphiidae and both species I tap frequently from cones in the greater Seattle area.  The other identifiable species was another linyphiid, an Erigone male.  I'll have to wait for the specimen to cure before I can identify it to species.  I've tapped an Erigone from cones only once before: a male E. aletris last October in Lynnwood.

Delicious!

18-Feb-2016 Mill Creek, Washington

Sample site location (red arrow) in
relation to nearby Ozyptila praticola
collection sites

There's nothing that beckons like a sun break in winter, especially when the thermometer hits 50 F!  And since business took me to Mill Creek, a town I hadn't collected spiders in previously, I made sure to find an hour to tap some pine cones while there.

The tree, the ivy

My cone source was a white pine tree.  Whether eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) or western (P. monticola) I couldn't be sure because the bark wasn't well enough developed to tell.  I've found both species planted in the urban landscapes of Pugetopolis.  Whichever species it was, it was growing in a typical urban setting: surrounded by pavement and with an understory of pure English ivy (Hedera helix).

A cone suspended in the ivy matrix

I usually curse English ivy because, like the exotic invasive it is, it entirely snuffs out native plant species.  But I must admit that it did serve several useful functions in this case.  First, the dozens of cones that had fallen onto/into it escaped removal by groundskeepers.  And second, the cones suspended in the ivy matrix, which was up to 2 feet thick in some places (!) were fairly dry even though it had rained the night before.  Not so the cones I found on the ground, which tended to be muddy.  So I can hardly complain about the presence of the ivy, at least under this particular tree.

The haul

I tapped 50 fallen cones and collected 4 spiders, all juveniles.  Two were likely Ozyptila praticola (Thomisidae), the introduced crab spider that I'm working to determine the local distribution of.  The others were a theridiid and a Philodromus sp. (Philodromidae).  Not an exciting catch, but it does serve as another point on the O. praticola map.  Or at least, a fuzzy point.

Beautiful pine foliage blowing in the wind

2-Feb-2016 Bay View, Washington

Sample sites. Click to enlarge.

Back in the field with Rod Crawford and Ben Diehl!  The focus of our spidering activities this day was the "census-designated area" of Bay View.  Bay View is situated on the southeastern shore of lovely Padilla Bay in Skagit County.  Our first stop in Bay View was the dike-top trail Padilla Bay Shore Trail. We then drove a mile or so north to the Bay View Cemetery.

Neriene digna penultimate
male in web on metal
garage wall

This south-facing corrugated
metal wall was loaded with
overwintering spiders.

We began our day's collecting in the trail's parking lot, which is surrounded by large maintenance or storage buildings and a scattering of old rusty equipment.  Collecting linyphiids from their webs on the building with corrugated metal sides was straight-forward, but it took me some time to find the orb weavers that had built webs on the old wooden structure.  I did finally find one by following its trip line to its hiding place - under a big curl of peeling paint!

Spider-hiding paint peel

Translocated spider microhabitat
(cones and pine needles)

Rod had spotted a few shore pines (Pinus contorta subsp. contorta) in photos of the trail head itself, so I had some small hope that I might find a few cones there to tap.  Unfortunately a groundskeeper had removed the cones and pine needles from beneath the pines.  I later found these materials dumped at the edge of the marsh.  Why do groundskeepers insist on doing this?  Cones and needles are not just spider habitat, they're ornamental!  Leave them be!

Tiny male Tachygyna ursina approaching
a sizable juvenile Philodromus rufus

Juvenile Philodromus rufus in "tiptoe"
pre-ballooning posture

After our productive day of spidering at the Nooksack Cemetery last October, I was looking forward to collecting at Bay View Cemetery.  But February isn't October, and in the end I found only two spiders on headstones in the entire cemetery.  Humorously enough, I didn't even see the tiny male Tachygyna ursina (Linyphiidae) until it approached the juvenile Philodromus rufus (Philodromidae) that I was busy photographing.  Apparently the ursina startled the rufus when the former tried to walk over the latter, because the rufus jerked the ursina off its leg and send him dangling by his drag line.  The thrills, the spills!

Douglas-fir trees and fallen cones

A fallen Douglas-fir cone = great
spider habitat!

I didn't spot any pine trees at the cemetery, but a stand of Douglas-firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) next to the utility shed had a nice accumulation of open cones lying beneath it on needle littler. I tapped 50 of those cones and collected 11 spiders.  Most were juveniles of the introduced species Enoplognatha probably-ovata (Linyphiidae), but two native linyphiids were present as well: Tachygyna vancouverana and T. ursina.

Caterpillars were more common than
spiders on the grave monuments

Moss 'highlighted' monument messages

One of the delights of frequent spider collecting is that, in addition to gaining spider knowledge, I am able to observe the seasonal changes in weather, flora and fauna.  Something I noticed this week were pairs of birds in synchronous flight.  A pair of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) near the head of the Padilla Bay Shore Trail alternated short flights together with sitting in close proximity on treetop branches and chatter-calling.  [A pet peeve of mine is that movie makers always substitute the scream of the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) for the eagle's chatter call, probably because eagles sound like whiny seagulls.].  At Bay View Cemetery, I also saw a pair of ravens (Corvus corax) flying synchronously from tree to tree.  Looks like spring courtship has begun for these species.  Maybe this is why Valentine's Day is in February?

Read Rod's trip narrative here.

Sunset over Padilla Bay during low tide