When I was about 13 years old, my girl scout troop went to a somewhat “primitive” camp for our summer adventure. We slept in tents and had toilet paper, but we had to construct what we would use such as a table, a toilet (a hole in the ground with a seat of branches lashed together), and a shower (with a tarp but held up with branches bound by ropes and a pail with a pull rope). The shower was fine except for one thing – some daddy longlegs decided to take up residence on the tarp and for me – and others – sharing the space with what we thought were long-legged spiders was not really our idea of fun.
It was many decades later that I discovered that daddy longlegs are ac
tually called harvestmen (scientific name, Opiliones) and they are actually not spiders at all! In fact, they are interesting insects that do not really look like spiders except for the fact that most species share the trait of having those extremely long legs.
Many Opiliones species can detach a leg, which continues to twitch for some time after leaving the body – this is thought to serve as a distraction that enables the harvestman to escape from a predator.
Spiders and harvestmen are both arthropods but differ in various ways. Spiders have segmented bodies, while harvestmen have a body of only one segment, with their single pair of eyes sitting atop the oval structure, like the black eyes you can see on the orange harvestman here. Spiders, on the other hand, have 3 or 4 pairs of eyes, as well as silk glands that are lacking in harvestmen.
Harvestmen’s legs protrude from structures that look a little bit like mechanical nuts; they are actually called the coxa and trochanters. These may be the same color as the arachnid’s body or be of a different color.
Similar to spiders, harvestmen do have a pair of pedipalps – specialized appendages – and these form the arachnids’ feeding apparatus together with the first pair of legs. This feeding organ is called the stomotheca.
The two harvestmen below were seen in early December at Mason Farm Biological Reserve. They were approaching one another, separating and then coming together again. I have no idea what they were up to. Mating came to mind but in winter?
More than 6,400 species of harvestmen have been discovered on all continents except Antarctica, but it is speculated that there may be as many as 10,000 species. I have seen them in varied habitats such as a forest, on beach sand, clinging to plants and wandering about on manmade structures. They vary in color and appearance as seen below. Some are mainly one color, some are two-toned and others have patterns on their bodies.
Some harvestman end up being parasitized by smaller insects such as the red mites seen catching a ride on this individual. If they don’t die, though, they can go on to mate, lay eggs and have offspring.
I used to avoid harvestmen if possible, but now I take an extra look at them hoping to find one with coloring and/or a body pattern that I haven’t seen before. Nature continues to be intriguing!
While ospreys are one of my favorite large birds, the gorgeous ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula) has won my heart among my tinier feathered friends. Today I’m sharing some portraits of kinglets made the past couple months (in my yard and at Bolin Creek greenway in Chapel Hill, Jordan Lake woods, Sandy Creek Park in Durham).
hes or 10-11 cm long), this kinglet is in almost constant motion, which makes getting good portraits a bit of a challenge. Despite this high level of activity, however, research has shown that the ruby-crowned kinglet only uses up to 10 kcal a day in energy. (Sometimes I think this holds true for me as well as the weight I want to lose just stays in place.)
Their main diet consists of insects, including spiders, ants, wasps, beetles and aphids. They will also occasionally eat seeds, fruit and sap.
Most of the time, the male’s beautiful little red crest (which gives the species its name) remains hidden unless it gets excited about something.
In my pursuit of portraits, I’ve found that just as I think I have the bird in focus, it has disappeared from my viewfinder and I need to look up and around to locate it again..Given its diminutive size, one wouldn’t expect that the female lays up to 12 – twelve! – eggs in its nest, which is elastic and can expand as the brood grows. The male and female stay together until the chicks fledge at about 2 months and they will defend the nest against intruders.
Sometimes, I hear the chittering call before I see the tiny wonder and only very rarely get to enjoy its longer 
What is very cool for me is that my visitor can become very friendly indeed. Last year, on two occasions, I was carrying a replenished suet feeder outside when the kinglet flew in to perch on it as I held the feeder in my hands – giving me a great close-up view. I look forward to seeing if the kinglet will favor me with an up-close-and-personal meeting again this coming winter!
admire the handiwork of spiders as they build temporary or semi-permanent abodes and hunting traps. During my walks in different areas this fall, I’ve seen various forms of webs, but none as large the 
The trashline orbweaver (Cyclosa turbinata) arranges bits of old prey in a line in its web, apparently helping to camouflage itself as it looks like another piece of trash in the web.
Arrowhead spiders (Verrucosa arenata) suspend a few or more strands of silk along or across trails at about head height. Have you wondered how they manage to suspend a web across a trail that is quite wide? They first produce a fine adhesive thread that can drift over the gap with a breeze. When the thread sticks to something at the other side of the gap, the spider feels a change in the vibrations of the thread and then reels it in and tightens it. The spider then crosses the gap on this thread and strengthens it by placing a second thread and so the web begins.
Orbweavers tend to make large vertical webs, like the ones being spun by the marbled orbweavers (Araneus marmoreus) in the next photos.
of energy building webs and it is not uncommon for them to eat their own web in order to re-gain some energy used in spinning.
My beautiful world 