What is Slugyard?

Slugyard is a window to the world around you. Most of these photos were taken from in or around my yard. I hope they encourage you and your family to pay more attention to the world outside your door.

NORTHWEST NATURE BLOGS

OTHER NATURE BLOGS

Back at it! Wolf Spiders Sunning

By Mike, on March 20th, 2013
IMG_9800

Slugyard is back! Unfortunately I lost a little over a year’s worth of posts when I moved the site to my new host. So it’s time to start catching up…

Above is a photo taken of the side of one of my raised beds. See the spider?

 

These small dark spiders are . . . → Read More and See Photos: Back at it! Wolf Spiders Sunning

8 comments   Spiders    

Cross Spider Cuts Boxelder Bug Loose

By Mike, on May 30th, 2011
Boxelder Bug on Rose

“Dad, hurry up!” That is a sentence I hear a lot around my house. Luckily, this time my son was calling me outside to look at something. I asked what was going on and he said “A Cross Spider has a Boxelder Bug caught in its web!” Not bad for an 8-year old, huh?

. . . → Read More and See Photos: Cross Spider Cuts Boxelder Bug Loose

5 comments   Insects, Spiders   ,  

Spider Flower?

By Mike, on May 29th, 2011
Black-and-yellow Argiope Spiderlings

Yesterday in my backyard I saw this flower on a plant poking through my neighbor’s fence. Wait a second- is that really a flower?

No! It is a bunch of spiderlings, or baby spiders.

According to Insects of the Pacific Northwest by Peter and Judy Haggard, these are Black-and-yellow Argiopes (or Garden . . . → Read More and See Photos: Spider Flower?

4 comments   Spiders   ,  

Spider Stretching Out

By Mike, on May 9th, 2011
Possibly a Stretch Spider?

 

I found this spider on a stinging nettle leaf in the woods behind our house. I moved in for some closeups, being careful of course not to get pricked by the stingers on the bottom of the nettle leaf!

This spider has some seriously long front legs, and is in an interesting . . . → Read More and See Photos: Spider Stretching Out

3 comments   Spiders    

Rain Garden Wildlife

By Mike, on May 3rd, 2011
Beetle

As I posted about a couple of times over the last few weeks, I built this rain garden in my backyard. Two of my roof downspouts empty into it and the water fills the garden for a while before it slowly sinks into the ground. The plants are starting to grow and leaf out . . . → Read More and See Photos: Rain Garden Wildlife

10 comments   Birds, Insects, Spiders   , , , ,  

As the Insects Flourish, So Do the Cross Spiders

By Mike, on April 20th, 2011
Cross Spider

Now that we are starting to see some insects in the yard, the Cross Spiders have returned. These spiders are not native but pretty soon they will be everywhere. They spin large orb webs between trees and plants and wait in the middle of the web for an insect to fly into it.

. . . → Read More and See Photos: As the Insects Flourish, So Do the Cross Spiders

3 comments   Spiders   ,  

Spider Anatomy

By Mike, on December 29th, 2010
Spider

This spider was inside our house climbing around on our oven. It looks a lot like a Long-legged Sac Spider. According to Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America by Arthur V. Evans, these spiders are usually seen in homes where they live inside appliances. They also bite- and apparently the bite . . . → Read More and See Photos: Spider Anatomy

3 comments   Spiders    

Really a Bug

By Mike, on December 10th, 2010
Cross Spider

This bug was hanging on just outside of my front door. In this case, it really IS a bug. Confused? Even though people usually call any insect a bug, there is a certain group of insects that are actually known as “true bugs”. Stink bugs, squash bugs, and leaf-footed bugs are just a few . . . → Read More and See Photos: Really a Bug

4 comments   Insects, Spiders   , ,  
 
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