Photos of the Week

Along with some rain we've had a couple of foggy mornings. The spiders like to build webs on the railings of the pedestrian bridge I walk across to get to work. They stand out when they are covered in dew and reflecting the low early morning sun. They're a little tricky to photograph well.

Normally, there are no spiders visible, so I'm not sure what's making the webs. A few times I have found these Cat-faced Orbweavers on the webs, but I'm not sure if they are the producers.

The leaves are continuing to change color. I think I like photographing the reflections of the color better than the trees themselves.

I was taking photographs of these coneflowers (gray-headed?) when I noticed a tiny crab spider. Usually these are Goldenrod crab spiders, but this one has a little different coloring than usual.

I've only seen a few fishing spiders this year. I spotted this one guarding its young in a nursery web. You can see the empty egg sac at the bottom of the web.

We're past the dragonfly peak but there are still a few around. I photographed this Variable Darner as it was laying eggs in the water. I wonder if it's the eggs or the nymphs that overwinter?

The bees love this late flowering Russian Sage. On cool mornings I can often find them "sleeping" here, waiting to warm up enough to fly. I think most of them, including this one, are Hunt's Bumble Bees.

Usually I see jackrabbits around Innovation Place, but this looks like a Mountain (Nuttal's) Cottontail. They are more commonly found further south. I wonder if they are moving north with the warming climate.

I'm not much of a mushroom person, but there are lots popping up after the recent rain. This one was a little unusual - I think it's a White Saddle.

There are more and more Boxelder/Maple Bugs congregating on the ground and bushes and trees.

The oaks at Innovation Place have had a bumper crop of acorns this year, maybe due to the combination of the warm summer and the regular watering. There aren't a lot of oaks in Saskatoon, but there are a few around. Someone was even collecting them with a rolling nut gatherer. I'm not sure if that was just to get rid of them, or whether they were going to eat them in some form.

And finally, a rare selfie, as a reflection, of course.