Ok - you were warned. I told you that we were getting back to the bugs and spiders today... well, the spiders at least for today.

I saw this tiny little guy on one of the bushes out in our front yard. And when I say tiny, I mean like head of a pin tiny! Based on my calculations (which are this point are pretty much eyeballed) - this guy is about 2mm in size (maybe... and I do mean maybe... his legs could have reached 3mm fully stretched out). Despite the tiny size, I saw him make jumps of over 65mm! He was absolutely fearless.

This is the only shot of him that I managed to get, and unfortunately I wasn't able to find him again after running inside to get my tele-converter. I've cropped down to show a bit more of the detail (just mouseover to see the original version).

Technical Data:Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

I know many people don't like spiders, but this tiny guy just fascinates me. The thought that there is a beating heart, a tiny brain, everything. It is just incredible. I don't know if this is a juvenile or a full grown adult (I still have yet to find a spider ID book worth buying), so I have no clue on the species here. Regardless, I really love those semi-translucent legs!

Come on... you have to admit that this tiny little guy is pretty cool... and at 2mm, he is absolutely 100% harmless to everything except those other pests in your garden that you don't want anyway!

Give spiders a chance.

- Bill