Potter's Grass Spider

The road that runs through Overbrook Ravine has along parts of it a barrier made of wooden posts with metal cables running through holes in the posts. In some places where the hole through the post is much larger than the cable, Potter's grass spiders have made lairs.

The web extends from the post on either side of the hole to the cable.

 

This shot, the previous, and the next are of the same individual.

Focus stack of 25 images

Focus stack of eight images

The cable is 3/8 inch in diameter. Focus stack of 13 images.

World of Mostly Standing Birds

The World of Birds show at the Minnesota Zoo continues, and I saw it again in August of this year. There was no aerial catch by a raptor this time, but Boyd made an appearance (no photos in this post), and it provides a chance to see raptors and largish birds with no netting in the way.

A toco toucan catches a grape half.

 

knobbed hornbill

Jefferson, a marabu stork, lifts off. I'm not sure this picture conveys his size.

 

A milky eagle owl, from Africa. Eagle owls' eyes kind of freak me out.

One of the owl's talons

African fish eagle

I don't know if the flying bug has anything to do with the open mouth.