EcoWeekend was May 1st-3rd 2015 at Camp Oty’ Okwa in the Hocking Hills of Southeast Ohio. The Columbus Audubon Society runs this annual event giving families and individuals the chance to get out and experience and learn about nature. They recruit a variety of people to lead programs on a wide range of topics. I was invited this year to lead two programs on spiders, one for adults and one for youths (pre-K to second grade).
I arrived on Friday afternoon. After checking in at the registration desk and setting up my bedding and such, I headed out on a small hike with my packed dinner. The staff had recommended a trail that leads to “Split Rock” as a good option. The views were spectacular. The sedimentary rock exposed is from the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian periods (~345 MYA) when the region was covered by a shallow sea, and is called Black Hand Sandstone (Hansen 1975). During the glaciation events in Ohio this region was not ice covered, but was extensively sculpted by the flooding run off upon the glacial retreats .This run-off sculpted the rocks into all sorts of interesting formations. You can read about the geology of the region here.
While up on Split Rock I found an interesting little spider. It was hanging inverted on a small shrub. I was able to snap a couple of pictures of it before it dropped into the leaf litter below, and I was not able to relocate it. I am not sure what species of spider this is, so if anyone recognizes it please let me know!
Saturday morning was my adult spider program that I titled “Beginning Spidering”. I feel like looking for spiders should be as main stream as looking for birds, and so like Birding I felt Spidering would be a good name for that activity. After a brief overview of the common families of spiders found in Ohio I provided each of the participants with the free “Common Spiders of Ohio” field guide published by Ohio DNR. You can view the PDF here.
We then went spidering. It was not long before we found numerous spiders. There were Cyclosa conica in their orb webs. These spiders will arrange the remains of its prey in a line down the center of its web, thus earning the common name of trashline orb weavers (Bradley 2013). They will sit camouflaged among the trash, and even hide their egg sacs within it. We found numerous Agelenidae (funnel weavers) that we coaxed from their retreats with my sonic toothbrush. We found a roaming male Segestriidae, and lots of tube webs in rotting logs. There were lots of small Lycosidae (wolf spiders) running around in the leaf litter. And, almost every tree and shrub had a small immature Leucauge venusta (Orchard Orb-weavers) which are part of the Tetragnathidae family. I was so busy interacting with my group of participants that I failed to take many photographs on this expedition. They were a great group and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them.
In the afternoon was the youth program. As this was a pretty young group I decided to make it a little more interactive. We started by talking about what a spider is and why it is different than all the other arachnids. To aid in learning the basic body parts of a spider we made pipe cleaner spiders. (Thanks to the American Arachnological Society Casual Night at the 2014 conference for teaching me how to make these!) The kids all really enjoyed making their own spider (or two) to take home with them. (Hopefully they didn’t terrorize siblings or parents with them!) We then went on a spider hunt around the main activity building. We found lots of Theridiidae (cobweb weavers), lots of young Salticidaes (jumping spiders), and many immature L. venusta. The children really liked L. venusta as they have a bright orange spot on the ventral side of their abdomen. Some children had mistaken the orange spot for a red hourglass and had initially thought the camp was inundated with black widows. It is always nice to help educate people, as I am sure it was not just the children that had incorrectly identified these spiders.
On my way to lunch I noticed the classic jumping motions of a Salticidae on the edge of the dormitory. It was a very handsome male Platycryptus undatus. They have such cute fuzzy faces and big eyes. I really enjoyed photographing him. You can tell he is a male by the orange-red hairs (or mustache) on the clypeus and the white hairs around his eyes (Kaston 1981). This is my favorite species of spider. They can be quite common in Ohio, and seem to enjoy having their photograph taken.
Saturday evening I participated in the Night Insect Study lead by David Horn. Dr. Horn is Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University, and is also the author of the Ohio DNR’s “Moths of Ohio Field Guide” that you can view here. Dr. Horn had previously set out traps, baited some trees, and deployed a light sheet with a UV light. We found lots of insects, and other arthropods during the event. The light sheet attracted a spectacular female Actias luna (Lunar Moth). You can there is also an Erebidae moth (maybe from the tribe Arctiini, which are commonly called Tiger moths) and an Ichneumonidae wasp (sub-family Ophioninae ) also on the sheet. Even though the focus was insects I, of course, was distracted by the spiders. I found a Xysticus crab spider (Family Thomisidae), and a very robust Tigrosa helluo (Family Lycosidae: wolf spider).
I intentionally left my Sunday morning free of programs. As this was my first time at Camp Oty’ Okwa I wanted a chance to do some exploring. Several people had recommended Counselor’s Cave as a good morning hike, and it did not disappoint. The views were spectacular. Poking around in the cave I found a mature male Callobius bennetti (Family Amaurobiidae: Hacked Mesh Weaver). It is not uncommon to find them in crevices in rocks (Howell and Jenkins 2004). Mature females can be found year-round, but mature males are usually only around in April-June (Kaston 1981). I am sure there were more in the caves there, and I hope he was successful in finding a mate.
Lastly, I wanted to mention that throughout the weekend I had my binoculars with me, and as it was spring migration there were plenty of birds around. I saw dozens, but have included just a few that I was able to photograph. (Black-Throated Green Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Hooded Warbler, and Yellow-Throated Warbler.)
Whether you love birds, trees, flowers, hiking, astronomy, spiders, insects, photography or crafts, there is something for everyone at EcoWeekend. Thanks to the Columbus Audubon Society for inviting me to be a program leader, to all the staff that put in numerous hours setting everything up and taking care of us for the weekend, and all the participants that made this EcoWeekend such a success.
Literature Cited
Bradley, Richard Alan., Buchanan, Steve., American Arachnological Society.,. 2013. Common Spiders of North America. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Hansen, Michael C. 1975 Geology of the Hocking Hills State Park Region. State of Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey.
Howell, W. Mike., Jenkins, Ronald L.,. 2004. Spiders of the Eastern United States : A Photographic Guide. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Kaston, B. J.,. 1981. Spiders of Connecticut. Hartford, CT: Dept. of Environmental Protection, State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut.
Spiders and More 