Creepy Crawlies

I suppose it was inevitable that as I started to look for insects, I found more and more spiders as well. Which doesn't always sit well with me. But if I can look at them from an objective naturalist's viewpoint (and keep them from crawling on me), I can appreciate that some of them are pretty darned cool looking. Like this Shamrock Orbweaver, also called a Pumpkin Spider because of its occasionally orange colouration.

I snapped the photo below on one of my job sites earlier this week, aiming for the Cabbage White. Upon uploading the photo later I noticed something down and a little to the right of the butterfly...

There's a big Banded Garden Spider (a close relative of the Big Sneaky Yellow Spiders from a few posts ago) just waiting. That Cabbage White doesn't know how close it came to being lunch that day. Here's some better shots of the same species from a site I was at today:

And because I like posting photos (and possibly because we all needed a palate cleanser from spiders), here's a Northern Crescent - differentiated from the very similar Pearl Crescent by the lack of white markings on the hindwing, and apparently also the large amount of orange on the tip of the antennae.