I managed to find several spiders while in Death Valley National Park…. The first two were pretty well hidden, but just catching a glint of light off of their webs and a little patience looking for them worked well. I would have loved to have found a live tarantula, but I’m sure that is pretty rare – this one was pretty small (as shown by the photo of it next to my keyfob) and I have no idea what killed it. I have no idea how I spotted it, but it was still cool to see it. And lastly, the black widow is not the first one I’ve found in the wild, but definitely the first one I managed some good photos of. As soon as I saw its web, I was pretty certain it was a black widow web just by the design. Even with it missing some legs, I certainly was giving it plenty of respect and not risking a bite, but I did appreciate it being cooperative for some photos.
