Jen Cross
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jencross.bsky.social
Jen Cross
@jencross.bsky.social
53K followers 870 following 11K posts
Engineer by day | Nature & landscape photographer | Birds, bugs, spiders | Friend of animals that scare people | Be decent & kind | she / her | IG heyjencross
📸www.jencrossphoto.com
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jencross.bsky.social
Female Pileated Woodpecker hammering away at a dead tree to find food.
A large black bird with a black bill, red crest, and a white head with a black stripe through the eye and another black stripe across the cheek. She has just slammed her bill into the tree and her crest is curled forward from the blow.
November 16, 2025 at 8:42 PM
jencross.bsky.social
Pileated Woodpeckers are the largest woodpecker in North America and are nearly the size of a crow. They excavate deep into rotten wood to get at carpenter ant nests and leave behind rectangular holes. This is a female busy looking for food. 🪶
A large black bird with a, black bill, red crest and a white head striped with black through the eye and across the cheek. She is clinging to a dead tree and looking toward with the tree.
November 16, 2025 at 8:40 PM
jencross.bsky.social
The ash tree forests in PA have been hit hard by emerald ash borers. So, this morning I did some volunteer work planting new trees. I was able to plant 3 black willows and a sycamore tree. 🌿
One of the nature center staff talking about how to properly plant a tree. Using a stick to make sure the tree is at the correct height in its hole. A lone green protective cover marks the spot of a new baby sycamore tree. The new tree is surrounded by dead ash trees.
November 16, 2025 at 6:06 PM
jencross.bsky.social
Some fun with lady Belted Kingfisher today. I found a good spot for them. Thinking about actually dragging a tripod with me next time out. 🪶
A bird with slate blue on the back and a slate blue crest, stout black bill, white collar, and white on the chest with ruddy markings. She is perched in a tree looking to the right. A bird in flight with wings and tail spread. She has a bluish-green crest and stripes on white wings and tail. She is flying upward looking for a perch. A bird bursting out of the water. She has a bluish-green crest, stout black bill, and ruddy markings on her side. Water is exploding off of her wings.
November 15, 2025 at 7:38 PM
jencross.bsky.social
Rare bird alert! Red-necked Grebe that's been hanging around a local lake in Bucks County, PA. #LiferPie for me! 🪶
A water bird with dark gray on the back and cap, a yellow bill, white on the cheeks and chest, and ruddy red on the sides of the neck. It is floating on the surface of a lake.
November 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM
jencross.bsky.social
When you’re out fishing please be responsible and clean up your gear. This stuff is a hazard for wildlife.
A handful of fishing line mixed with leaves. I am holding it in my hand. There is a creek in the background.
November 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM
jencross.bsky.social
Congrats @philtorres.bsky.social and @aaronpomerantz.bsky.social on the paper! I look for these decoy spiders whenever I’m in the rainforest and this is the best example I’ve found. #inverts
Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador 2022
A spider web with a trash line through the middle leading up to a larger, spider-ish looking patch at the top.
November 15, 2025 at 12:22 PM
jencross.bsky.social
We’re snailposting, post your snails.

This particular snail with its long tail caused a stir in the snail community on iNat a few years ago.
Family Proserpinellidae
Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve, Ecuador
A golden colored snail with a long tail and eye spots at the base of the antennae. It is on a damp leaf.
November 9, 2025 at 6:32 PM
jencross.bsky.social
It's a beautiful day here in Pennsylvania. Here a Great Blue Heron shakes things out during golden hour. Despite their large size, Great Blue Herons only weight about 5 to 6 lbs, thanks to hollow bones.
A large wading bird with a powerful beak, dark blue on the sides of the head, and gray on the neck, wings, and body, with dark blue at the trailing edge of the wing. It is standing in shallow water with a green grassy shore in the background.
November 8, 2025 at 6:59 PM
jencross.bsky.social
No, this is a wandering spider.. 😏
A close-up of a large spider with a set of four forward facing eyes, It is covered in brown fuzz and has yellow pedipalps with a black stripe down the front. The spider is sitting on a leaf.
November 1, 2025 at 2:15 PM
jencross.bsky.social
My old man Chase catching some rays in his favorite box.
#caturday
An orange cat with white paws. He is curled up in a box that is sitting in the sun.
November 1, 2025 at 12:24 PM
jencross.bsky.social
And here is my new favorite arachnid. She's a Solifugid, or wind scorpion, and is busy working on making a burrow for herself. When hunting, these animals move rapidly and tap their pedipalps on the ground to sense prey. #Arachtober
(Subfamily Ammotrechinae) Portal, AZ
November 1, 2025 at 12:27 AM
jencross.bsky.social
Pseudoscorpions are small arachnids that are often overlooked. They prey on clothes moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae, booklice, ants, mites, and small flies. Pseudoscorpions will sometimes hitch rides to new locations on other insects. #Arachtober
A tiny arachnid with a gold body and brick-reddish claws. It is standing on bark that looks like rough sandpaper.
November 1, 2025 at 12:09 AM
jencross.bsky.social
Vinegaroons are arachnids that are not spiders. They have a large pair of pedipalps that are used to catching and crushing prey. They get the name Vinegaroon because they can discharge foul smelling liquid to deter predators. #Arachtober
(Mastigoproctus sp.) Portal, AZ
A large brown arachnid with a stout pair of pedipalps and eight legs, two of which have evolved into sensory whips. It is standing on my hand with desert mountains in the background.
November 1, 2025 at 12:03 AM
jencross.bsky.social
Huntsman spiders are leggy arachnids that hunt by chasing their prey. I really like this one, it looks like it's made of glass.
Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador, 2022 #Arachtober
A green translucent spider with long legs. It is standing on a leaf.
October 31, 2025 at 11:53 PM
jencross.bsky.social
Lots of tarantulas live in burrows. One year when we were in the rainforest and all the trails were flooded we were finding tarantulas up on plants to get clear of the water. They seemed very vulnerable. #Arachtober
(Tribe Theraphosini) Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador, 2022
A brown spider with orange leg joints. It is trying to hide on a leafy plant.
October 31, 2025 at 11:37 PM
jencross.bsky.social
Here a tarantula hides in the cozy little house made by knitting two leaves together. Look at those little spidey paws!
(Avicularia sp.) #Arachtober
Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador, 2024
A fuzzy gold colored tarantula standing on a leaf with another leaf folder over its abdomen and held in place with silk.
October 31, 2025 at 11:31 PM
jencross.bsky.social
This fuzzy friend is an Ecuadorian Brown Velvet Tarantula found during hike in the rainforest.
(Megaphobema velvetosoma) #Arachtober
Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador, 2022
A large black spider with coppery-brown fuzz on its abdomen. It is standing on old, wet leaf litter.
October 31, 2025 at 11:28 PM
jencross.bsky.social
A very silky looking Chiricahuan Gray Tarantula spotted during a night hike in the desert near Portal, AZ.
(Aphonopelma gabeli) #Arachtober
A very silky looking spider with dark black fuzz that has gray-ish areas. It is standing on dusty, dry ground.
October 31, 2025 at 11:25 PM
jencross.bsky.social
We found this handsome blue tarantula just wandering down a trail in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. This genus of tarantula is popular in the pet trade, which may put pressure on wild populations. #Arachtober
(Pamphobeteus sp.)Tatama National Park, Colombia, 2023
A fuzzy blue spider with longer white hairs scattered throughout its blue fuzz. It is standing on mossy rocks.
October 31, 2025 at 11:20 PM
jencross.bsky.social
It's the last day of #Arachtober and I'm sure some of you are celebrating. But arachnids are great, so I will share a few more with everyone tonight.
Hammer-jawed Jumping Spider (Zygoballus rufipes) PA
A small spider on a dried flower head. It is facing the camera with front legs raised and has two large forward-facing eyes. There is green in the background.
October 31, 2025 at 11:13 PM
jencross.bsky.social
Ogre-faced Net-casting Spiders dangle upside watching for prey and fling a net forward to catch it. The spider has great night vision due to a light sensing membrane that forms in their eyes each night - since they have no irises, the membrane is destroyed at dawn. #Arachtober
(Deinopis spinosa) FL
A spider hanging upside down and holding a net between its front 4 legs. It has a pair of very large forward facing eyes. There is a branch to the right of the spider.
October 29, 2025 at 1:45 AM
jencross.bsky.social
Red-legged Purseweb Spiders build a tube of silk against vertical surfaces like trees. They wait for prey to walk across the tube, bite through, and pull the prey inside. This is a female @apsciencebylyn.bsky.social coaxed out of her tube. Males have the red legs. #Arachtober
(Sphodros rufipes) FL
A stout spider with black on the cephalothorax and legs and a brown abdomen. She standing on a leaf with green in the background.
October 29, 2025 at 1:32 AM
jencross.bsky.social
Many spiders are named for the way they hunt. This tiny spider is called a Triangle Weaver for the triangle shaped web it makes. They create tension in their web and use it like a slingshot to snare prey - accelerating at up to 1,700 miles per hour per second!
(Hyptiotes cavatus) PA #Arachtober
A small spider tan spider with a large, bulbous abdomen. It is standing on a stick.
October 29, 2025 at 1:21 AM
jencross.bsky.social
Some spiders can fly! OK, not really fly, but spiders in the genus Selenops are able to glide. If they fall from a tree top they are able to steer and even right themselves in order to make their way back to a tree trunk. #Arachtober
(Selenops sp.) Yasuni National Park, Ecuador 2018
A very flat spider with tan coloring and brown stripes on the legs. It is sitting on a a leaf.
October 28, 2025 at 1:01 AM