Diana MacPherson is keeping a weather eye on her Eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus), and sends a few snaps from Canada:
Flurries here today but some seeds left out for the chipmunks brought forth the same chippy that has been waking up from torpor a lot recently. I recognize this one from the small chunk out of the ear. I took 413 photos today and whittled them down to 55. Out of those, I’ve sent along 3.
Chipmunk appears jolly despite the snow.
Ceiling Cat, I beseech thee to cease the snow.
Surveying the backyard from the BBQ cover.
David Begun, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of California at Davis, sends some arthropods. Readers are welcome to identify both the spider and the fly:
Thought I’d send this along, though quality is not superb. This little predation drama took place on my patio. A jumping spider (species unknown) has been camping out on a flower on my patio table. This morning I saw an insect spinning wildly apparently suspended under the flower. I used a stick to grab the line and immediately realized that the jumping spider had likely flung itself at the prey item (a Syrphid fly) and attached a drag line, upon which both were dangling. I gently placed them on a surface and snapped this pic.
And I like this well-composed and colorful shot from reader Tim Anderson:
An Australian pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) from Dora Creek, New South Wales.
I will not look at jumping spiders the same. Very nice pelican.
The syrphid fly looks to be in the genus Epistrophe, but there are many species that look like this one. I would hazard E. nitidicollis.
The jumping spider looks like specimens labeled as Phidippus audax in this spidery web site that I use, but I wonder if that is mislabeled. That species is pretty much black with white markings.
My good spider book is at home at the moment, unfortunately. However the link does say this is an immature one…?
Mark:
Which spider book is that?
The book about good spiders, silly. The book about bad spiders is probably with him.
You mean, he’s the Spider Santa?
b&
I had a bad dream involving a spider last night. Now I know why. It was my smart assness on this thread.
Bitten on the ass by the Bad Spider Santa sounds like a nasty dream, indeed….
b&
Cease the snow!?!?!? It’s only November. That little munk has a long winter ahead.
He’ll sleep during most of it. He seems to wake up every now and then and look for seeds but he’s the only one of the many that live here to do so. I wonder if it’s because he is young – appears to be one of the offspring from this summer.
Are you still supplying them with seeds just in case they wake or is it leftovers?
I put those seeds out. If the chipmunk doesn’t eat them, the birds do. This chipmunk hoovers them up & transports them away so he is storing them.
Good job! Keeping them fed and strong for a long Canadian winter.
Were both the spider and the insect okay? Jumping spiders are daring. I’ve seen the little zebra ones pounce on flies twice their size – successfully!
I think the spider would be OK, but the fly did not survive the encounter.
Jumping spiders are awesome ninjas. Cat-like ninjas. Maybe honorary cats … maybe.
Sub
Nice composition of the pelican indeed. And to indulge in my anthropomorphic tendencies it seems to be giving the “evil eye”.
I spent many Summer hours as a kid following around jumping spiders on our back patio. We lived in a brick home, and the spiders hunted insects while hiding in the nooks and crannies of the bricks. I spent some time trying to identify this particular jumping spider, but couldn’t find any with similar markings. There was one called the “Daring Jumping Spider” that caught my attention since the action you attributed to it was indeed “daring”, but the particular spider was usually black.
Just as an aside, a Pew survey published in the last couple of days says around a third of those in Central and South America plus US Hispanics believe in the power of the “evil eye”.
A third?! Holy crap, that’s surprising.
I did a quick googly and not surprising there are at least 30 verses about the “evil eye” or “stink eye” (love it) in the bible. So there you have it…sigh.
Did your eyes go all googly from all that googlin’?
or “stink eye”, as I hear the kids say today.
The Pelican
— Dixon Lanier Merritt
Cheers,
b&
I learnt that as a child. Love it. 🙂
Pelicans, birds at their beak power.
Jolly chipmunk possibly the most handsome chipmunk I have ever seen…
So cute how that ‘monk has his/her “fingers” interlaced in shot 2!
It’s always interesting to see a smaller predator go after much bigger prey, like that jumping spider is doing. The advantage of having the appropriate weapons & skills…and not being fazed by a bee mimic!
Pelicans are amazing–what a treat to see a different species from the American ones I’m familiar with.
I love how chipmunks use their hands. This one is engaged in some grooming. I’ve seen them bite at their fur after licking it to get it nice & straight and they are always moving their hands around. When they stare off into the distance with their little hands clasped close to their bodies, they seem to be worrying about something.
Wringing their hands?
Wow. The fly was bigger than the spider!
And, what an amazing shot of the pelican!
The only thing wrong with Finding Nemo was that the Pelican (voiced by very Australian Geoffrey Rush) was shown as the American Brown species. A range extension!?
Everything else was perfectly accurate.