Spiders, like snakes, are an animal group of which humans seem instinctively afraid. That is unfortunate because they truly are both remarkable and important. Join Boulder County Audubon on October 27th as we learn about spiders and their webs as key parts of bigger food webs, ID features, life history habits of the major groups and spider sex. We will discuss spiders doing photo shoots with bicyclists, winning contests, and as urban legends. We are sorry that we cannot offer personal “spider therapy” by inviting audience members to come forward to hold a tarantula – Zoom has not progressed that far. Yet.

Prior to Dave’s talk, we’ll also have a brief presentation of the recent works and photographs from the Boulder County Audubon Teen Naturalist’s recent outings.

Dave Leatherman was born and raised within the shadow of Ohio State University’s football stadium, where he began birding and bugging as a child. His education includes a BS in biology from Marietta College and an MF degree in forestry from Duke University. He is a retired entomologist previously employed by the Colorado State Forest Service for 32 years. Dave is a superb all-round naturalist. Many of you will be familiar with The Hungry Bird column which he writes for the journal Colorado Birds and his reports to COBirds from Grandview Cemetery, documenting the breeding and migrating birds that use this treed graveyard and what they consume. He also studies Loggerhead Shrikes and their impaled prey, dragonflies, and about every other insect, adeptly photographing and sharing his research.

When: Tuesday, October 27, 2020.   The presentation starting at 7:15 PM. Everyone is encouraged to join early to work through any connection issues (the meeting room will be open at ~7:00 PM).

Where: This meeting will be held online. All participants will be muted upon entry to the meeting room. The chat feature will be on so you can write questions for the speaker.