ID the Spider

[MT Net]

Any ideas to this spider located in northern MN?

I was splitting wood, and grabbed a log from the woodpile as this critter ran onto my hand. Screaming like a school girl I flung him off of me. Only to land back on the woodpile.

This is as close as I dared to get my camera in on him in supermacro mode.

The spider was not harmed in the filming of this photo. Although the ego of the photographer was tarnished with his skirt billowing over his head.

[Tippman]

I don't know for sure but I'm just gonna throw out a guess and say a wolf spider. How big was it?

[JayinMN]

I don't know what it is, but thats a sweet picture of it.

[jonny_redhorse]

Jeezaws!...That thing gives me the "willies" just lookin at it!...I like insect macros but that thing looks like a real "biter" kinda spider....nice clear shot MT!...must ne one of them "Hairy Backed Red Phased Lake Wobigon Ankle Biters" ...

[jwhjr]

That's a nice shot of it. I don't know what it is either, but I know that's the type that is all over the sand at the cabin. Once the sun goes down they're all over.

[sparcebag]

 Originally Posted By: Tippman

I don't know for sure but I'm just gonna throw out a guess and say a wolf spider. How big was it?

Thats my guess also.Wolf Spider

[Steve Foss]

Great shot, MT.

It's a striped fishing spider (Dolomedes scriptus). The females get to 4 inches long, counting legs, and that makes it the largest spider we've got up here.

The several species of fishing spider hang around water and docks a lot (they actually catch and eat minnows), but the striped is one of those that ranges farther away. We're nearly half a mile from water but have had the striped fishing spider in our house (actually crawling around on us in our bed once in the middle of the night. Yikes!) They are not aggressive or known for biting, nor are they venomous.

A great spider guide for northern MN is "Spiders of the North Woods" by Larry Weber. It's part of the North Woods Naturalist Series guides. The whole series is great, and they add one or two each year. I've got guides through them for spiders, dragonflies, damselflies, butterflies and lichens.

Here's the one we found in our house.

[MT Net]

Sweet Mary, in your bed??!! Not gonna' tell the wife about that. We had a bad enough experience with a cabin filled with bats.

Anywy, a cool pic in the grass, thanks for the ID help. Cool creatures, I'm amazed by their "hair".

Love the "S" series cameras Canon makes, the S2, and now the S5. The supermacro feature and flip LCD screen is excellent. I miss this macro feature in my DSLR. My spider pic above was taken with my S5 IS with the lens resting on the tree mere mm from the spider.

Below is another shot taken with the S2 IS.

[MT Net]

Oops, Sorry, I posted a too large of files here.

[Steve Foss]

Another cool shot, MT.

That night I felt something on my arm and flicked it off with my hand, and then woke up later to get up for one of those midnight callings us gents sometimes have (left the lights out, too) only to see something very large and very dark on the white pillowcase six inches from my wife's face.

I turned on the bedside lamp and there was that monster spider. I woke my wife, pulled her out of bed and we stood there wiping the sleep from our eyes and looking at the hairy thing.

My wife won't even kill flies (she will swat mosquitoes), so she went downstairs to get a jar to scoop up the spider. She came back with a cute little quart jar, then realized it was too small and got a big old gallon pickle jar.

Spider stayed in the pickle jar overnight until she put it back into the yard the next day.

[fishinchicks]

I get totally freaked out by spiders, but I keep coming back to this post. The details are incredible in this last shot.

You have given me hope! I have a S2 IS, and have had trouble with the whole macro thing. I would love to know how to use that feature better.

[Royce Aardahl]

Great shots, looks like it could take on a wolf!! I shoot the S2IS also and love the macro. Check out the info in the owners manual fishinchicks and you shoul be ok. I usually use the P setting or the Portrait when macroing stuf and it workd great. The normal setting you use the zoom and don't need to get super close. On the supper macro you can get very close with the lens.

[MT Net]

I gave my S2 IS to my Pop when I upgraded tothe S5 IS, same camera fnction.

I have the IS feature set to shoot only. So IS only works when you snap the picture. I manily shoot in either AV mode or full Manual mode. Both photos were in the SuperMacro mode set to AV. I like to set my depth of field and let the camera figure out the shutter speed.

I never go above 100 ISO. A tripod is best, but in my spider pic, I set the lens corner on the tree for stbility.

The first pic is from the S5 IS. 80 ISO, AV set to f2.8.

The second pic is from the S2 IS. 50 ISO, Av set to f3.5.

You can get incredably close. I've taken pics of flowers where the pedals were touching the lens, but were crisp as the flower's center. The tricky part with Supermacro is the lens barrel will cast a shadow on your subject, and using the flash for fill in light is useless.

Get the lens adapter hood LAH-DC20 conversion lens adapter and hood for about $20. For about $100, you can get the Canon 500D close up lens.

I enjoy my DSLR, and use it the most often, but I love the S2 / S5 for its supermacro feature.

Hope this helped.

[fishinchicks]

I figured I would need to get the manual out again, but was more curious as to what setting you use most often. Since both of you that have helped me out use different settings - P and AV - I will try both of them out.

MT, I had been thinking about getting the conversion lens adapter and another lens. Maybe I should ask for that for Mother's Day!

Thanks for the help eyeguy and MT!

[finnbay]

Whoa! Great shots of an ugly beast!

[ironman]

They are actually quit docile. I found one around the campsite and it was enormous. Handled it for a while, decided to put it in a jar for awhile...by next morning didn't look as big and noticed a brand new egg sack. Carefully removed both egg sack and new momma to underneath some dead fall and wished them the best. Awesome pictures and I love spiders.

[JR777]

I really do not like those eight legged things but admit the pictures do look great.

[DeeDee]

LOVED the last picture!!! Spiders are cool. (as long as I know what type they are)Loved his eyes. Great pictures