Living in Alaska spiders and other insects are only active from about late April (at the earliest) to last September (depending on the weather). While it is a short season, the spiders and insects make up for it by exploding into life. Early in the spring while there is still snow on the ground insects can be found on the trunks of trees absorbing as much sun as possible. And in the fall similarly, it is the last location they are easily found. In these images, many of the smaller insects on white backgrounds were photographed on birch trees. During the summer spiders and other insects disperse and can be found almost everywhere. One of my favorite spiders to observe and photograph are the crab spiders. Unlike many other spiders, crab spiders do not spin webs, but instead place themselves in a location where they can use their grasping front legs to grab their prey. One of the common places to find them is on flowers where they catch unsuspecting pollinators. Last summer I was able to find several crab spiders with prey. This summer I have not had as much luck but am hoping to as the season progresses. Seeing as how this gallery is already large, any additional spider photos from this year will be added to a second album.