In early April I went to Portland where I got two chances to look for spiders in park lands and found several more at urban houses. I have attempted to identify a few already and failed to reach high confidence in any of the species. So I will post highlights only to the blog until I do figure them out.
Forest Park, Saturday Morning.
The first spider I found in Forest Park was, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful. I thought it would be very easy to identify, but its patterning actually doesn't quite match any of the candidate species I've been evaluating.<One of the biggest spiders I saw. I watched this one for quite a while travel between two sections of its web and perform some labor, which I thought was likely maintenance, but I really couldn't tell what it was doing. Found in a hollow in an upright tree.An unexpected confrontation.One of the littlest spiders I found, building a rather extended web. Some spiders actually have only 6 eyes, but it's also possible one pair is just difficult to see here. Found in tree or tall bush foliage.A small spider with prominent leg coloration and big palps. Found in tree or tall bush foliage.Found in the web of the smaller spider pictured above. Prey, by my guess.Three spiders, of at least 2 species, seemingly inhabiting a small sheltered corner of a larger communal web structure. Although communal living is not uncommon, the size and proximity of these webmates surprised me. Found under a railing.Bonus, since this is a blog post: Ants entombed in the sap of an old tree, from a park where I found no spiders, only sign.