היומן של pterocards

Hello again, Your favorite interpreter is back again! I succeeded in my spider finding missions! I found a Mastephora bolas spider, she was very cool! I got to smell her stinky defense mechanism (it reminded me of a ladybugs scent) and see her defensively curl to mimic bird poop. She did NOT want to move when she got scared. Very very interesting spider! She would fall onto her back and was not able to right herself, flailing her little legs in the air until I helped her. I didn't get to see her hunting, and she needed male moths to eat. So I released her. I am still keeping my Argiope trifascata though! I found her in a local park near a meadow (just as was predicted!) Not only that! But my fiancé found a second one! Which was released. She is amazing to observe! She makes her web, sometimes with the traditional Argiope crosses, and sometimes without. She loves to shake her entire web if she realizes I'm near. She ALSO laid an eggsac which I am very excited to observe hatching! Speaking of eggsacs, I also found a female Misumena vatia (Goldenrod Crab Spider) who was very fun to watch! She ate exactly once before holing up in some leafs and laying an eggsac of her own. I've read that she'll now guard it with her life, ultimately dying once they start hatching. Sad! I'm gonna miss her! I also got to hang out with a friend for 11 hours which was really really fun! I hope he wants to hang out again in the future. :)

Hello everyone!
Wow I didn't know I could keep a lil journal on here. Ritzy!
Lemme introduce myself, I'm Joel.
I'm an interpreter at the Kensington Metroparks.

I mainly have put my time into researching spiders (I figured this out pretty quick when I proudly announced that I could ID lots of arthropods, only to find that I mainly knew spiders. Whoops!)

I don't know how much I'll post, but I figured I'd try it.

I'm currently hunting for Argiopyre species but not having much luck. Phidippus audax or perhaps Mastophora hutchinsoni would be amazing too.
I reckon P. audax season is coming to a close soon, and I've never seen a Mastophora before.
But here's hoping!

I found these Eastern American Jack-O'-Lanterns growing while I was out spider hunting on my daily Trail Check at Kensington. They're a really neat fungus! I would love to get some photos of them glowing at night.