On The Hunt
© 2010 Colleen M. Griffith. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, modified, or redistributed in any way without written agreement with the creator. This image is registered with the US Copyright Office.
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In honor of Halloween, I thought I would post a few more creepy spider shots. :D Since the Trick O' Treaters are coming out this evening, my husband put out a larger-than-life fake tarantula and that reminded me of my other un-processed tarantula shots. This photo of a wild tarantula was captured during one of my excursions to Mt. Diablo State park in September of this year. Every fall, the mature male tarantulas come out of their burrows looking for love. They never seem to stop moving and so it's difficult to capture an up-close, in focus, shot of them.
I thought I would let one of them crawl up and over my leg in the hopes of getting him to stop for a moment - well he did, and then as I was peering into my camera to take a shot, he did an unexpected little jig on my leg. I flew about 10 feet and so did he! I bet he didn't expect the "earth beneath him" to move so violently. My husband exclaimed "What are you doing? That was the perfect photo op!" - I didn't expect the Tarantula to move that way and let my imagination run a little wild. (Of course, I didn't see my husband with a Tarantula crawling on him at any time during the photo shoot either!) The little jig the Tarantula danced on my leg reminded me of the song by Will Smith, "Gettin Jiggy With It" - hence the title for the photo. Don't ask me why that song in particular - it just popped into my head at the time. After thinking about it later, I actually think the Tarantula was just testing the new surface (my jeans) to see what it was.... the male tarantulas, when they come across the entrance to another tarantula "den", will tap, tap, tap on the ground near the entrance as a way of knocking on the front door to get the female to come out. So, maybe the Tarantula just thought he found his true love. :D
Posted 31 October 2010. You can see a collection of all my spider photos by going to www.colleenmgriffith.com/Galleries/Flora-and-Fauna/Spiders
