Way too busy again, too many things getting in the way of fun. To mention a few, two big wind storms at the cabin, trees down everywhere, including onto the roof (no major damage) and across the driveway in several places, a tree from our property fallen onto a neighbor’s driveway, and a highway-speed broadside collision with a very large deer on a remote Minnesota county road (no one injured, except the deer, but our car was within 4% of being a total insurance write-off).
Anyway, back home again (driving a rental car), as I walked behind the house doing YardWork, I looked at our flower beds, as I always do, and a spot of unexpected color caught my eye. As I looked more closely, I found that an almost-white crab spider 
had set up an ambush on one of our Black-Eyed Susans. Its presence was immediately apparent to me, but I suspect that the eyes of the insects to which it was hoping to be able to provide a final embrace would tend to overlook it and rather concentrate on the flower. 
There were bright sunlight and deep shadows, and a fair bit of sporadic breeze, so I spent about an hour waiting for appropriate lulls for macro work, with some success.
I looked again the next morning, when it was more overcast and the breeze much calmer, and found it still there, waiting patiently for another portrait session, with which I was 
happy to oblige. Later, in the evening, I looked again, but could not find it. Whether it had moved on to a more hopeful position or fallen prey to a hungry bird or dragonfly or some other predator, at least I have a few fond memories and a few memorable images of its brief presence in a prominent place in our garden.
-
Recent Posts
Subject Tags
- Abstract
- Action
- Animals
- Archives
- Argentina
- Australia
- Autumn
- Awards
- Birds
- California
- Cats
- Clouds
- Derelicts
- Dogs
- Family
- Filters
- Finland
- Fishing
- Flora
- Flowers
- Food
- Fostering
- France
- Friends
- Frost
- Fun
- Fungi
- Germany
- Harvestmen
- HDR
- Hiking
- Ice
- Insects
- Iowa
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Lakes
- Lichens
- Macro
- Mexico
- Minnesota
- Monochrome
- Music
- Nebraska
- New Zealand
- Night
- Omaha
- Pets
- Photo Philosophy
- Portraits
- Rainbows
- Rehabilitation
- Restoration
- Rivers
- ScotchChrome 1000
- Sky
- Snow
- Spain
- Spiders
- Spring
- Streams
- Street Portraits
- Street Shots
- Summer
- Sunrise
- Sunset
- Taiwan
- Travels
- Trees
- Turkeys
- Underwater
- Waterfalls
- Wildlife
- Winter
Categories
- A Fondness for Ferns
- A Fondness for Fungi
- A Liking for Lichens
- A Penchant for Pareidolia (About Face)
- Abstract
- Archives
- Family
- Family Flashbacks
- Family Friday
- Fishing
- Flashback Friday
- Fleeting Beauty
- Isolation Antidotes
- Melancholy Monday
- Menagerie Monday
- Music
- Nebulous Notables
- Night Photography
- Photography
- Places Remembered
- Poetry
- Point & Shoot
- Portraits
- Portraits of Pets Past
- Recipes
- Rehabilitation
- Saturday Sequel
- Serenity Sunday
- Silly Saturday
- SpringScapes
- Thoughtful Thursday
- Travels
- Tweaking Tuesday
- Uncategorized
- Warm Winter Wishes
- Webnesday
- Wildlife
Meta
krikitarts 
Absolutely beautiful macros!
Thanks very much, Hien–how nice to hear from you again!
Wow~you’ve had quite a time of it! These are wonderful shots of the spider.
There’s actually lots more, but I don’t want to whine. There’s a very similar crab spider that we see up in northern Minnesota, a goldenrod spider, that–given enough time–can change its color, like a chameleon, from yellow to white and pink, the latter rendering it practically invisible on blossoms like those of the state flower, the showy lady’s slipper.
Most likely just took off in a bit of a crabby mood. For some reason, possibly the drought and unusually prolonged hot temperatures, our black-eyed susans did not return this year. So far, neither have our goldenrod crabbers either. They are such excellent models with their relative motionless posing.
We’re feeling the heat here too, and that could well have had something to do with its wanting to get out of the direct sun. It’s supposed to top 90 every day this week. I plan to catch up on others’ posts and watch a few movies in the cooler basement.
Geez Gary, I think you need to lay low for a bit, away from weather and wildlife!! Having had my own scary car/deer encounter, I am so glad to hear you are ok. Stay safe my friend!
It’s a Russian roulette game. We lived in Duluth and I drove to Hibbing nearly every day for several years, and then in far-northern Wisconsin for several more, and it’s a wonder we’ve never made contact with one before this. I guess our number was finally up. I’m thankful none of us were injured and that the car can be repaired. That’s a lot. The really weird thing is that I looked for the deer several times and found no trace.
I totally understand – it’s a Russian roulette game for us too. It happens all the time around here. I’m glad you’re ok :).
Oh, dear. Deer. Your description is remarkably understated, particularly since you used both “broadside” and “big.” I’m glad you weren’t hurt.
Your photos are so good, and a reminder that I need to try and identify what may be a crab spider of some sort. I didn’t know I had a photo of it until I uploaded some images, and there it was. The color is different, but it’s posed in almost exactly the same way. I don’t know if it’s male or female, but it seems to be wearing lipstick. Funny.
I thought of you a few days ago. I’ve been culling photos, and I came across a set of a dozen turtle photos from a local nature center. One is a young red-eared slider on a log. He’s sunning, and yes, indeed: he has those feet splayed out exactly like the ones in your photos. It’s such fun to come back to photos, and see those things I missed the first time.
Yes, dear. Could have been much worse, and we’re both more-careful drivers now. I’d love to see your image of the spider with lipstick! Maybe I could help with the ID. How nice to know you thought of me when you came across the splayed feet. I love to go back through old photos too, and yes, there are lost treasures that are well worth resurrecting. What fun, for sure!
I’ve been needing to get registered at BugGuide. i’m going to do that, and see if I can ID it. Then, I’ll send it along, and you can see if I got it right, or not. I thought identifying flowers was a project! What i’ve learned is that, for nearly every flower, there’s a little critter of some sort running around: bee, beetle, butterfly, fly. There are times I think an afternoon isn’t enough time to explore even a small parcel of land. There’s too much to see.
You are so right. I’ve learned that if I look at a group of flowers and find nothing of interest other than the flowers themselves, I’ve not been looking hard enough, or long enough, or closely enough. I remember that, as a boy, I would lie down on the lawn and study the ground right in front of me, among and below the blades of grass, and within a minute or so I could see all sorts of minute activity. It was like the floor of a tiny jungle! Must do that again (but now I’d need a magnifying glass–no, wait–now I have a macro lens)!
What superb shots, especially that third one.
So glad to hear there were no human injuries, but sorry to hear about the deer (and the car :) )
Thanks, Vicki, that’s a favorite of mine, too. Yup, all things considered, we were all pretty lucky indeed. I’m afraid the deer didn’t make it very far afterwards, but I’d sure like to know that it didn’t suffer for very long.
Excellent images, my friend, especially the first one. And good to hear of your good fortune in the deer collision – I had a very near miss a little while back, imagining the possible consequences of which leave me distinctly chilled and clammy! A
I’ve been imagining consequences since my first practice in northern Wisconsin in 1977, and it’s just luck that has kept them at the theoretical stage until now. Actually, I’m very grateful, as the damages could have been much worse. May all your close encounters continue to be only near misses!
Here’s to that!