Field Notes Update

4 Views of Orchard Spiders on Their Web /  by Todd Henson

Orchard orbweaver spider against the dark

I think I’ve always found spiders fascinating. And what’s even more fascinating? A spider on its web, of course! 😀

A colorful orchard spider

Here are 4 examples of orchard spiders I found in Prince William Forest Park (Virginia) in June of 2022. The first two are from June 4th and the last two are from June 25th.

Orchard orbweaver on its shiny web

I tried to find different perspectives to show you, though looking at them now I realize I didn’t capture any good photos of the back of the spider. Oh well, that gives me something else to look for on future hikes. And seeing as how orchard spiders are fairly common in this area there’s a good chance I’ll find plenty of opportunities.

Spotlighting an orchard orbweaver

The last photo isn’t the greatest from a technical perspective. It has a fair bit of noise and isn’t completely sharp. But I was looking for a particular mood to the image, with a somewhat dark spider spotlighted by the lighter circle of green in the background, and the web largely hidden from view. The environs were very dark so I had to boost the ISO which resulted in the noise. And my unsteady hands and any breeze hitting the web caused the lack of sharpness. But I’m still pleased with the image and I hope you enjoy it.

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There’s Gold on Them Thar Flies /  by Todd Henson

Hanging with a golden-backed snipe fly

I caught a flash of gold while walking down a trail through the forest. I know in times past these woods were mined for pyrite, also known as fool’s gold, but I hadn’t expected to find real gold here. And yet, looking down that’s exactly what it appeared I’d found. And then the little bit of gold began moving.

Though it might blend in well in this environment, the movement of gold caught my eye.

I’d stumbled across a golden-backed snipe fly (Chrysopilus thoracicus), one of the many, many species of true flies in the world. And what a beautiful fly it is, with that back covered in little gold hairs that sometimes give the look of gold leaf someone’s applied to the back of the fly. This particular fly wasn’t very bothered by my presence. It was spending its time wandering around on the ground, so I did the best I could to keep up with it, capturing some photographs along the way.

I followed this golden-backed snipe fly as it moved around on the wet ground.

According to the Mountain Lake Biological Station of the University of Virginia, there’s actually little known about their life cycle and habits. You’d think in today’s world that everything has already been discovered, studied and understood. But the more I learn the more I realize how much we, as a species, and I, as an individual, still don’t know about the world around us and all the life that inhabits it. I find that encouraging as there’s still plenty of opportunities to discover and learn, something I very much enjoy doing.

And speaking of learning, I want to thank Stephen Gingold for teaching me what species this was, which then prompted me to do a little research of my own to learn more.

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Behold the Blue-eyed Grass /  by Todd Henson

Blue-eyed grass. Isn’t that a beautiful pattern where the blue and yellow meet?

This spring I found many examples of what has become a favorite flower of mine, blue-eyed grass. I find it fascinating it’s called grass as it’s really a member of the iris family, which helps explain the lovely flowers it produces.

I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the bright blue-eyed grass flower against the darker brown of another plant.

I sometimes struggled to photograph these flowers. I love the pattern formed of the transition from yellow to blue inside the flower and so I often wanted to focus on that. I loved the shapes of the petals and so I wanted to highlight those. And as often happens, I was drawn to the anthers so I sometimes focused on those. With the lens I was using and the distances I was at and, of course, the breeze, I often had a very shallow depth of field so I needed to choose what I wanted in focus as I just couldn’t get it all. If the breeze hadn’t been there perhaps I could have done some focus-stacking, but not this time around. This did give the opportunity, though, to really focus in on those single elements. And I do very much enjoy a very shallow depth of field.

Here I tried to include both the flower and the green bud of blue-eyed grass, though the but is out of focus.

A different arrangement of flower and bud of blue-eyed grass.

I don’t know what specific species of blue-eyed grass I photographed, or even whether they are all of the same. There are several species here in Virginia and many more can be found all over the United States and Canada. Check out Linda Leinen’s Lingering Bits of Spring to see examples of dwarf blue-eyes grass and annual blue-eyes grass found in Texas. Head over to Stephen Gingold’s Friday Night Flower Night to see an example of eastern blue-eyed grass in Massachusetts. And visit Alexander Kunz’s Sisyrinchium bellum to see an example of western blue-eyed grass in California.

A closeup of the beautiful anthers of blue-eyed grass.

I created these photographs on May 25th of 2022, all in the same general location. In fact, this is the same location where I photographed pink lady’s slipper orchids. It can be a very productive location and I look forward to more opportunities in the future to photograph these amazing little flowers. I hope you’ve enjoyed some of these views of blue-eyed grass. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Here I really liked how close the blue-eyed grass grew to the branch, almost as if it were a part of it.

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