Leighton Photography & Imaging

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  • The mouse spider is a beautiful, velvety (hence the name) brown spider and accidental European import that has established itself across much of North America. This speedy predator does not use a web to catch prey, but rather prefers to chase down and overpower insects and other spiders. At less than an inch in length, this spider is completely harmless to humans, unless you are in fact the size of a cricket. This mature female was found under a rock between Ellensburg and Vantage, Washington while hunting for scorpions.
    Mouse Spider
  • The mouse spider is a beautiful, velvety (hence the name) brown spider and accidental European import that has established itself across much of North America. This speedy predator does not use a web to catch prey, but rather prefers to chase down and overpower insects and other spiders. At less than an inch in length, this spider is completely harmless to humans, unless you are in fact the size of a cricket. This mature female was found under a rock between Ellensburg and Vantage, Washington while hunting for scorpions.
    Mouse Spider
  • Unexpectedly this whitebanded crab spider popped out of this buckthorn cholla cactus flower as I was photographing it in Southern Arizona's Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the US-Mexico border. These tiny spiders can take down  surprisingly big prey - much bigger than themselves, and this one was clearly well-fed. Bees were everywhere!
    Whitebanded Crab Spider
  • This very common spider found throughout the woodlands of the American Southeast is often confused with two very similar but not closely related species - the mabel orchard spider (Leucange mabelae) and the venusta orchard spider (Leucange venusta). The easiest identification tool is the pattern on the back of the abdomen: it has three lines on the abdomen that run parallel only about halfway across the abdomen. Completely harmless to humans, it is most often encountered in gardens, woodlands and wetlands. This one was photographed in the Corkscrew Swamp outside of Naples, Florida.
    Orchard Spider (Leucauge argyra)
  • The biggest black-and-yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia) I've ever seen! This huge female was positioned on her massive orb web between a couple clumps of palmettos and some live oaks near Hickey's Creek in Alva, Florida.
    Black-and-Yellow Garden Spider
  • A female common ground crab spider of the genus Xysticus (probably X. cristatus) guards her egg sac in the sagebrush desert in Central Washington's Ginkgo Petrified Forest. This drab brown crab spider is in stark contrast to those crab spiders often found camouflaged brightly with vivd colors among flowers, and relies on active hunting over ambush predation. Sadly, this spider will complete her life cycle and die naturally before her spiderlings hatch and disperse to renew the cycle of life, but for now they are well protected and cared for.
    Ground Crab Spider with Egg Sac
  • Goldenrod crab spider eating a variegated fritillary butterfly in the Lake Talquin State Forest in North Florida. This little camouflaged spider really blends in with these flowers where the butterfly feeds!
    Goldenrod Crab Spider
  • A massive golden silk spider catches a cicada - a testament to the strength and power of these predators. Note the much smaller male hanging around in the background.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • Brilliant and colorful, the large golden silk spider is a very common sight in nearly every Florida forest and woodland.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • Unusually large golden silk spider in the Apalachicola National Forest.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • A golden silk spider sits in the middle of her web in the CREW March Hiking Trails in Collier County, Florida.
    Golden Silk Spider
  • A large female Carolina wolf spider hunts among the forest leaf litter in search of prey above the Florida Caverns in Jackson County.
    Carolina Wolf Spider
  • A striped lynx spider waits patiently for something to be drawn to these false asphodel flowers in the Apalachicola National Forest in North Florida.
    Striped Lynx Spider
  • Green Lynx Spider photographed in Venice, Florida.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • I almost missed this little crab spider while hiking through rural Washington County on the Florida Panhandle.
    Goldenrod Crab Spider
  • The ultimate ambush predator! I was out photographing wildflowers and didn't even notice this little spider until I was focusing on the flowers!
    Goldenrod Crab Spider
  • Green Lynx Spider photographed in Venice, Florida. This little critter was very photogenic and didn't seem to mind having about 60 shots taken to get this one right!
    Green Lynx Spider
  • A successful ambush - a green lynx spider eating a small green stink bug from inside a garden flower in Jefferson County, Florida.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • The cat-faced spider is a small member of the orb weaver family that rarely exceeds a centimeter in length and is harmless to humans. There are two "horns" on the abdomen that if looked at the right way, appear to be shaped like cats' ears with two small dimples exactly where you would expect to see the cat's eyes. Common in the Western United Staes and Canada, these spiders breed in the summer, lay an egg sac in the fall, and the spiderlings hatch and disperse in the wind via "web parachutes" in the spring to start the life cycle all over again.
    Cat-faced Spider
  • The cat-faced spider is a small member of the orb weaver family that rarely exceeds a centimeter in length and is harmless to humans. There are two "horns" on the abdomen that if looked at the right way, appear to be shaped like cats' ears with two small dimples exactly where you would expect to see the cat's eyes. Common in the Western United Staes and Canada, these spiders breed in the summer, lay an egg sac in the fall, and the spiderlings hatch and disperse in the wind via "web parachutes" in the spring to start the life cycle all over again.
    Cat-faced Spider
  • Huge fishing spider carefully photographed in the Fakahatchee Strand. These guys can get aggressive and do bite hard!
    Fishing Spider
  • The rare and endangered false water spider orchid (Habenaria distans) growing in pine scrub in Collier County in SW Florida on a very hot summer day.
    False Water Spider Orchid (Habenaria..ans)
  • Huge female with distinctive "zig-zag" web under a shrub near Hickey's Creek in Lee County, Florida.
    Black-and-Yellow Garden Spider
  • I was crouched down in a field in the Withlacoochee State Forest  in Central Florida photographing butterflies when I noticed this amazing sight among the wildflowers in front of me.
    Green Lynx Spider
  • High contrast photograph of dewdrops sparkling on a spiderweb at dawn in the Florida Everglades.
    Spider Web
  • Wind scorpions get their name because they are "fast like the wind". While related to scorpions, they fit into their own category or arachnids which also includes spiders. These highly aggressive solitary predators live in very dry, arid habitats where they hunt at night by actively zigzagging across across the ground or sand until they encounter and overpower an unfortunate insect, spider, scorpion or even the occasional lizard. Once pinned down with the two large front legs (pedipalps), the wind scorpion doesn't even wait to kill its prey. It will immediately start tearing into its meal with the two dark pincers near the mouth (they look like fangs) and devour it as quickly as possible, before the wind scorpion might in turn become the prey of some even larger predator. This one was stalked/chased and photographed in rural Cibola County, New Mexico, about 70 miles west of Albuquerque.
    Pale Windscorpion
  • Wind scorpions get their name because they are "fast like the wind". While related to scorpions, they fit into their own category or arachnids which also includes spiders. These highly aggressive solitary predators live in very dry, arid habitats where they hunt at night by actively zigzagging across across the ground or sand until they encounter and overpower an unfortunate insect, spider, scorpion or even the occasional lizard. Once pinned down with the two large front legs (pedipalps), the wind scorpion doesn't even wait to kill its prey. It will immediately start tearing into its meal with the two dark pincers near the mouth (they look like fangs) and devour it as quickly as possible, before the wind scorpion might in turn become the prey of some even larger predator. This one was stalked/chased and photographed in rural Cibola County, New Mexico, about 70 miles west of Albuquerque.
    Pale Windscorpion
  • This big spider was actually seen from the car while driving through the Apalachicola National Forest. I just had to pull over!
    Silver Argiope
  • Common in southeastern Arizona, Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, parts of Southern California, as well as select locations in Utah and Nevada, the buckhorn cholla gets its name from its similarity in appearance to deer antlers. Flowers are quite variable in color - ranging from lemon yellow, fiery orange to a deep scarlet, and are followed later in the season by smooth, plump, mostly spineless, green, purplish, or reddish edible fruits. Like many other cactus species in the Southwest, the mature fruits of the buckhorn cholla drop off long before it blooms during the next season, therefore you will never see one with both fruits and flowers at the same time. This one was photographed in the Puerto Blanco Mountains of Southern Arizona near Sonoyta, Mexico.
    Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acan..rpa)
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • This most common of the orb weaver spiders found in Washington State, the cross orb weaver is found in a wide range of habitats. It has extremely variable markings and patterns, but they all have a white cross on the back of the abdomen. This large female was found eating its prey - some sort of flying insect - that she trapped in her web next to Coal Creek in Bellevue, Washington on an early fall afternoon.
    Cross Orb Weaver
  • This amazing member of the arachnid family is related to spiders and true scorpions, but is in a class of its own. I found this small yet vicious solifugid hiding under a rock in rural Clark County, Nevada about an hour east of Las Vegas.
    Pale Windscorpion
  • Common in southeastern Arizona, Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, parts of Southern California, as well as select locations in Utah and Nevada, the buckhorn cholla gets its name from its similarity in appearance to deer antlers. Flowers are quite variable in color - ranging from lemon yellow, fiery orange to a deep scarlet, and are followed later in the season by smooth, plump, mostly spineless, green, purplish, or reddish edible fruits. Like many other cactus species in the Southwest, the mature fruits of the buckhorn cholla drop off long before it blooms during the next season, therefore you will never see one with both fruits and flowers at the same time. This one was photographed in the Puerto Blanco Mountains of Southern Arizona near Sonoyta, Mexico.
    Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acan..rpa)
  • Common in southeastern Arizona, Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, parts of Southern California, as well as select locations in Utah and Nevada, the buckhorn cholla gets its name from its similarity in appearance to deer antlers. Flowers are quite variable in color - ranging from lemon yellow, fiery orange to a deep scarlet, and are followed later in the season by smooth, plump, mostly spineless, green, purplish, or reddish edible fruits. Like many other cactus species in the Southwest, the mature fruits of the buckhorn cholla drop off long before it blooms during the next season, therefore you will never see one with both fruits and flowers at the same time. This one was photographed in the Puerto Blanco Mountains of Southern Arizona near Sonoyta, Mexico.
    Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acan..rpa)
  • Common in southeastern Arizona, Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, parts of Southern California, as well as select locations in Utah and Nevada, the buckhorn cholla gets its name from its similarity in appearance to deer antlers. Flowers are quite variable in color - ranging from lemon yellow, fiery orange to a deep scarlet, and are followed later in the season by smooth, plump, mostly spineless, green, purplish, or reddish edible fruits. Like many other cactus species in the Southwest, the mature fruits of the buckhorn cholla drop off long before it blooms during the next season, therefore you will never see one with both fruits and flowers at the same time. This one was photographed in the Puerto Blanco Mountains of Southern Arizona near Sonoyta, Mexico.
    Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acan..rpa)
  • Common in southeastern Arizona, Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, parts of Southern California, as well as select locations in Utah and Nevada, the buckhorn cholla gets its name from its similarity in appearance to deer antlers. Flowers are quite variable in color - ranging from lemon yellow, fiery orange to a deep scarlet, and are followed later in the season by smooth, plump, mostly spineless, green, purplish, or reddish edible fruits. Like many other cactus species in the Southwest, the mature fruits of the buckhorn cholla drop off long before it blooms during the next season, therefore you will never see one with both fruits and flowers at the same time. This one was photographed in the Puerto Blanco Mountains of Southern Arizona near Sonoyta, Mexico.
    Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acan..rpa)
  • Common in southeastern Arizona, Baja California and Sonora in Mexico, parts of Southern California, as well as select locations in Utah and Nevada, the buckhorn cholla gets its name from its similarity in appearance to deer antlers. Flowers are quite variable in color - ranging from lemon yellow, fiery orange to a deep scarlet, and are followed later in the season by smooth, plump, mostly spineless, green, purplish, or reddish edible fruits. Like many other cactus species in the Southwest, the mature fruits of the buckhorn cholla drop off long before it blooms during the next season, therefore you will never see one with both fruits and flowers at the same time. This one was photographed in the Puerto Blanco Mountains of Southern Arizona near Sonoyta, Mexico.
    Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acan..rpa)
  • Close-up shot of a freshly-molted captive rose hair tarantula.
    Rose Hair Tarantula
  • Close-up of water-spider flowers growing in a ditch in Liberty County, Florida. This orchid is most often found among reeds and wetland grasses, and is very easily missed.
    Water-Spider Orchid (Habernaria repens)
  • Water-spider orchid in full flower on the side of the highway in the Apalachicola National Forest.
    Water-Spider Orchid (Habernaria repens)
  • A bit of risk was needed to get this photo in the Corkscrew Swamp. I had to board a floating log in an occupied alligator pond to get this shot!
    Water-Spider Orchid (Habernaria repens)
  • Also known as the coastalplain spiderlily, this water-loving member of the amaryllis family is found in wet, soggy soils in the American Southeast, often along streams, ponds, lakes, and rivers. This one was found next to a stream in a very remote rural forest in Grady County, Georgia on a sweltering, humid summer day.
    Coastal Carolina Spiderlily
  • Also known as the coastalplain spiderlily, this water-loving member of the amaryllis family is found in wet, soggy soils in the American Southeast, often along streams, ponds, lakes, and rivers. This one was found next to a stream in a very remote rural forest in Grady County, Georgia on a sweltering, humid summer day.
    Coastal Carolina Spiderlily
  • The fantastic and wonderful hurricane lily, or red spider lily, growing on the side of the highway in rural Washington County on the Florida Panhandle. This was one of about 150 of these huge flowers found in a huge colony!
    Hurricane Lily
  • A grass-pink orchid blooming on the side of a country road in Goethe State Forest in Levy County, Florida. A tiny jumping spider waits in ambush!
    Common Grass-Pink Orchid (Calopogon ..sus)
  • Male cloudless sulphur seen at Wakulla Springs in northern Florida on an exotic red spider lily.
    Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
  • This easily identifiable fuzzy orbweaver spider is found commonly in thickly vegetated habitats where there are enough trees to support their large spiderweb traps and enough insects to keep them fed. Beautiful bold banding on the legs, bright red femurs and an obvious cross on the top of the abdomen make this beauty easy to tell apart from other orb weavers. This one was found deep in a jungle-like, mosquito-infested area in eastern Collier County near the Collier-Hendry border in Southwest Florida, but they can be found in most suitable areas of the Southeast, and as far north up the Atlantic coast as New England, and as far west as the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain ranges.
    Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver
  • Native to the deserts of the American Southwest and northern Mexico, these tiny, noisy relatives of the wrens are completely at home in the driest of deserts where they make their living among the mesquite and cacti and feeding on spiders and insects. This black-tailed gnatcatcher was found in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument within sight of the Mexican border in Arizona.
    Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
  • A female eastern collared lizard hunts in the middle of a Texas springtime day in the Guadalupe Mountains for insects, spiders and scorpions on the side of an arroyo.
    Eastern Collared Lizard
  • Close-up of a beautiful curious eastern collared lizard in Northwestern Texas as she scrambles across the Guadalupe Mountains in search insects, spiders and scorpions in the Chihuahuan Desert.
    Eastern Collared Lizard
  • Despite it not actually being a crab, the completely harmless Atlantic horseshoe crab is an ancient marine arthropod more closely related to spiders and scorpions. Extremely common in Florida, this big female was in the shallows on the northern Gulf of Mexico on Bald Point, just outside of Ochlockonee Bay.
    Atlantic Horseshoe Crab
  • This spiny desert lizard (probably a  juvenile male)  pauses in its hunt for insects, spiders and the occasional centipede under the fallen palm fronds in the Coachella Valley Oasis.
    Desert Spiny Lizard
  • Very large yellow pitcher plants growing on the edge of Tate's Hell State Forest in Gulf County on the Florida Panhandle coast. Many of these had spiders' traps inside - robbing the plants of their ability to catch insects.
    Yellow Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia flava)
  • Robber flies (also known as assassin flies) are one the coolest insect predators in nature. Bristling with long stiff hairs, these vicious specialists typically hunt a particular kind of prey, based on their species, such as ants, bees, dragonflies, beetles, grasshoppers, wasps or spiders. The stiff hairs on the face act as a protective shield to help protect their eyes against their struggling and potentially harmful meal as it forces its sharp proboscis through the exoskeleton of its victim. This unidentified species was photographed near the El Malpais National Monument in Cibola County, New Mexico.
    Robber Fly
  • A bushtit pauses for a second on a bigleaf maple tree in Western Washington in the late afternoon as it hunts for spiders, aphids and other small insects.
    Bushtit
  • Fragrant ladies'-tresses growing in a prairie on the edge of the Fakahatchee Strand. A simple key to identifying this orchid from other ladies'-tresses - just put your nose to it and you will know instantly if it is fragrant or not. Just watch out for the expertly camoflaged crab spiders that are sometimes found among the flowers!
    Fragrant Ladies'-tresses (Spiranthes..ata)