My First Desert Tarantula Sighting In Utah

Male Desert Tarantula in Tooele County, Utah – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm at 150mm, natural light

How I found my first Desert Tarantula in Utah

Yesterday morning I had an itch to visit the West Desert of Utah so I hopped into my Jeep and headed towards Tooele County. I saw some birds in the Stansbury Mountains including an adult Swainson’s Hawk upchucking a pellet, a gorgeous immature Ferruginous Hawk, four small flocks of Wild Turkeys and saw lots of smaller birds. The spot where I wanted to park, eat my breakfast muffins and wait for birds to come in was occupied so I thought I’d head south and check out a few more canyons and I am glad that I did.

I guess I could have grumbled about the people being in the spot where I wanted to be but I do believe that the Universe sent me to the other canyon at the precise moment in time I needed to be there.

I was driving up a narrow, bumpy and slightly wet dirt road that is barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass on when movement in the road caught my attention. I knew immediately what I was seeing and pulled my Jeep as far over to the south side of the road as I dared. I reached into my camera backpack, grabbed my Nikon D810 that has a 18-200mm VR lens attached to it, turned it on and hopped out of my Jeep.

I was so excited that I was shaking because the creature I had found was a Desert Tarantula which was my first sighting of one in Utah. I wanted photos of it before it disappeared into the juniper dotted foothills.

Desert Tarantula male on the side of a dirt road – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm at 80mm, natural light

It was about 10:30 am and the light was already getting harsh enough that I was having a hard time seeing the LCD on the back of my camera but I started taking photos. That area of the desert is quiet so it was easy for me to hear the sound of an engine in the distance over the sound of my own excited heartbeat. I knew I had to hurry because I did not want to block the narrow dirt road so I took photo after photo and hoped that a few of them would be sharp even though my hands were trembling.

I took a few photos above the crawling tarantula.

Male Desert Tarantula walking on a dirt road – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm at 75mm, natural light

And then sat down low on the road to take a few from a much lower perspective. I couldn’t quite get eye level with the spider without laying down in the dirt and gravel and the rumbling of the vehicle coming up the road was growing louder, I knew I had to move fast.

Male Desert Tarantula – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm at 82mm, natural light

I only took 54 images of the Desert Tarantula before I grabbed a stick that was near me, dangled it in front of the spider which caused him to grab it and I moved him safely off to the side of the road in the direction he was traveling before I hopped into my Jeep, turned on the motor and started moving up the road when a pickup hauling a horse trailer appeared in my rear view mirror.  I was able to pull over and allow the pickup to head past me.

When I went back down the road the tarantula was gone.

Seeing and photographing the Desert Tarantula brought back some memories for me from long ago. I didn’t drive until after I had my first son. I’d lived in Germany and hadn’t needed a driver’s license there because their public transportation was excellent and I could get anywhere I wanted to go on it. When I did come back to the U.S. I was pregnant with my first child and because of having low blood pressure when pregnant I passed out a lot. It wasn’t safe for me to drive. I lived in Arizona at the time.

After my first son was born I wanted to get my driver’s license and I practiced driving on dirt roads at Fort Huachuca during the later evening hours with my son safely in his car seat and my ex in the passenger seat. I can’t tell you how many tarantulas I saw crossing those dirt roads during those drives because there were so many but I was always delighted to see them.

Seeing the tarantula yesterday reminded me of those twilight drives and the many drives and hikes with my sons like them that followed as they grew up. Both my of my sons love nature. I believe that they do because they were immersed in it before they could even crawl.

Back to the Universe and the people in the spot where I had wanted to be, if I had gotten to the location where the tarantula was a minute sooner or later I might have missed seeing the spider altogether, so yes, I do believe I was given a gift yesterday.

Life is good.

Mia

For facts and information on Desert Tarantulas click here.