Female Western Spotted Orbweaver spider with her prey – Nikon D500, f8, 1/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Mark your calendars because there is a yearly Spider Festival on Antelope Island State Park and this year the festival is being held next Saturday on August 3, 2019.
Activities start at 10am and go until 4pm. No registration required. Park entrance fees apply.
2019 Schedule of Events
Presentations in the Visitor Center
10:15 – 10:45 Spider Myths and Facts
11:15 – 11:45 Silky Seduction: Spider Reproduction
12:15-12:45 How Spiders Benefit Birds
1:15 – 1:45 TBA
2:00 – 2:30 Bio Blitz Review – What did we find?
3:00 – 3:30 Utah Tarantulas
Activities in the Outdoor Amphitheater
10:00 – 10:30 Spider Drumming
10:30 – 10:45 Spider Poetry Reading
10:45 – 11:15 Spider Drumming
11:15 – 11:30 Costume Contest Parade
11:30 – 12:00 Spider Drumming
12:00 – 12:15 Costume Contest Awards
12:30 – 12:45 Spider Poetry Reading
1:30 – 1:45 Spider Poetry Reading
More TBA
Guided Walks
Take place on the hour and the quarter hour from 10:00am – 3:15pm
Spanish Translation by request for any walk
Check the Antelope Island State Park Facebook page for updates.
Male Western Spotted Orbweaver spider hanging in his web – Nikon D500, f10, 1/640, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This time of the year spiders and their webs drape the sagebrush, rabbitbrush, fences, trees and practically everything that doesn’t move on the island. I know that creeps some people out but they don’t bother me. The spiders are a fascinating part of the food web on Antelope Island and without them there would be fewer birds.
I love to take the time to photograph the spiders found on the island and the most common spiders that I see there are the Western Spotted Orbweaver spiders. I photograph the spiders with a long lens and a DSLR but quality photos of the spiders can be taken with cell phones and point and shoot cameras.
Mule Deer doe with a spider on her face – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Okay, so you might see the spiders of Antelope Island on living, breathing, moving creatures like this Mule Deer doe who had been resting in some vegetation and when she stood up she collected a spider and its web on her face. How cool is a hitchhiking spider though?
You don’t have to go to the festival to enjoy the spiders on Antelope Island though, you can head out there now and find thousands of them.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Western Spotted Orbweaver photos and here to see more of my insect and spider galleries.
Love those Orbs what a Web they weave very captivating grd label Great
How you are able to capture such subtle detail on something as complex as a spider and its web…never ceases to amaze me. Beautiful shots Mia.
I am a huge spider fan. The other residents of this home do not share my fondness. At all.
What a great festival! I’m fond of spiders, especially Orbweavers. I have a couple of 8-legged hitchhikers in the wagon who greet me with new webs regularly. Fortunately, they know enough to stay off the steering wheel.
We go to the festival every year. I think I will go out tomorrow morning too. I hope the phalaropes are along the causeway.
I hope, and I mean it, that you have a great time, but it tooook me a long time to get over my general dislike and fear of spiders. Probably why I live in the Northeast. Warming weather and climate change is not making me happy for multiple reasons! VBG!!