GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
Banded Argiope, Argiope trifasciata.
Photographed in the "Spider Ranch" part of my gardens here at my farm in eastern Ontario.
Image: Bev Wigney.
I know this will amuse many of you dear readers, because I am a zoologist, but I am terrified of spiders -- and I once kept spiders as pets when I was a kid, can you believe that?? Well, to prove to you that I am not biased against spiders, I include this lovely picture of a very scary spider here for your enjoyment (and for my heebie-jeebies).
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
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Comments
uh-oh! how are you with snakes? (I was thinking of sending you a couple of snake photos!). (-:
Posted by: bev | December 1, 2006 8:14 PM
Posted by: llewelly | December 1, 2006 10:29 PM
After moving out to the canyons, my wife and I came across this incredible spider. I found a spider website that because of the dramatic size and coloration of this particular species, recieves so many pictures of it that they don't accept them anymore!
Our introduction to this spider came after my wife who hates "bugs" came running up to me saying that I needed to check out this "cool spider" she had come across.
An interesting tidbit about them is that they are not dangerous (most important tidbit).
Something else interesting is the zig zag part of the web which you captured in your photo. Apparently there is great debate on the purpose of this structure in the web. Some feel it is to make the animal look bigger. Some feel it is so that birds will see it and not inadvertantly fly through the web and still others believe it is some kind of stabalizing mechanism.
A third tidbit is that they have the funniest habbit of occilating when danger is sensed. I have tried to get a camera on one especially beautiful specimen but everytime I get near, the web starts moving like there was a spring attached. I guess you either need a fast setting, a bulb trigger that can be activated from several feet away, or a very brave spider! Thank you for sharing this great picture!
Mike Kazmark
Posted by: bestpastarecipes.com | December 2, 2006 2:08 PM