July update - Conundrum Hot Springs (July 15 - 16)

For my final hiking trip of the season, I wanted to go somewhere farther and a bit more strenuous.  I decided to hike from Gothic to Conundrum Hot Springs via Triangle Pass.  I invited my friend to come with me, and we left Gothic early in the morning and headed towards Copper Lake.  Before we get to Copper Lake, the trail splits into two and one directs us towards Triangle Pass.

View from Triangle Pass

July update - Plants & Mushroom

Here are some of the flowering plants and one of the many fungi that I saw this month.

Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon pulchellum) at Kebler Pass.  Apparently these flowers have no nectar but are visited by bumblebees for their pollen.

Flowering plants of Gunnison National Forest, Colorado

Even though my summer field season has finished, I still have three blog posts about Colorado in draft mode that I want to share.  Here is one about most of the flowering plants that I photographed during the summer (and then I will post photos of insects and birds).  I have arranged these images mostly by the time I saw the plants (i.e., phenology) and/or genus.

One of the earliest flowering plant that I saw.  I couldn't identify it at the spot, but it is in the Parsley family (Apiaceae).

Hiking to my tallest mountain so far - Avery Peak (3,854 m)

Yesterday, I hiked from RMBL at 2,891 m to the tallest place I have ever been to on Earth - Avery Peak (3,854 m).  It was quite fun (and tiring) hiking up/down a steep mountain side, but the view at the top was worth it!

View of the Gothic Mountain from the other side.  Gothic Mountain is 3,850 m and definitely another mountain I want to hike to before I go back to Canada.

Arctic/alpine pollination workshop in Kluane National Park, Yukon - Part 2

During the workshop we had various presentations from researchers currently working in the Canadian Pollinator Initiative (CANPOLIN) and members from the Yukon government and local First Nations group.  We also discussed tasks that need to be done as the NSERC funded initiative is coming to an end, and also brainstormed topics/projects that will be of relevance to people living in northern communities and scientists in the future.

Thank you to the AINA for hosting us.

Arctic/alpine pollination workshop in Kluane National Park, Yukon - Part 1

Hello all, my lengthy summer travels concluded on Friday when we drove about 2,000 km from New Orleans to Peterborough, Ontario in 36 hours.  I am slowly sorting through all of my photos from my trips, starting with the workshop titled "Pollination, Climate Change and Invasive Species in Arctic and Alpine Ecosystems" in Kluane Research Station in Yukon.  There will be at least one official document reporting on the outcomes of the workshop, so I will not comment on the specifics. The general conclusion is that researchers (from both Canada and US), the Yukon government, local First Nations groups, and independent scientists all agree about the importance of climate change and pollination and the limited information currently present about Arctic and alpine regions.  Therefore, we will try to incorporate scientific communities and citizens in northern communities to start documenting zoological and botanical changes in various spatiotemporal scales.

Below are photos from the first two days of my Yukon trip (21st to 22nd).

Arriving in Whitehorse on July 21st.  The weather was miserable and rainy.

Wildflowers of Carden Plains

Despite me living so close to where I worked in 2010 (i.e., Carden Plains), I did not have the means to revisit the place.  Thanks to the field course I am assisting this month, I am now back to where it all began for me here in Ontario.

View from the Carden Rec Centre looking at Dalrymple Lake.

Flowers of Ivvavik

Celebrated my 27th birthday yesterday with people in my lab and had dinner at Tim Horton's.  Nothing super interesting in my life at the moment - working on my thesis, teaching, and thinking about what I should do with my future.

I have to teach a lab this Friday that requires me to identify tree species on one of the surrounding drumlins here at Trent.  I spent some time last Saturday identifying the trees from a guide, but I still wasn't too comfortable with my skills.  So yesterday, the lab coordinator took us teaching assistants to the drumlin again to identify the trees together.  Hopefully, everything will work out fine on Friday.

Speaking on trees and plants, I have been wanting to share my flower photos from this past field season for some time now.  Here they are.

Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobium latifolium)

Shaw Nature Reserve

In the morning we learned about the botanical and floral diversity in pollination biology. For example, the different mating and breeding systems for plants, as well as the history of categorizing flower types to better associate the pollinators and the appropriate pollinator syndrome.

Photographed a Syrphid during a break.


Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis)

In the afternoon, we headed to a different part of Missouri Botanical Garden outside the city. It is called Shaw Nature Reserve.

Roadtrip to Whitehorse and Dawson City

Our roadtrip began in the afternoon of July 27th.

Driving on the infamous Dempster Highway.

Photos from many days ago...

Hi all. Work and life are good here in Ontario. For the past few days, the weather has been very summer-like and I am definitely experiencing the insect annoyance here, but overall, I am having fun and learning a lot.

Here are some of the photos that I took on my off-days on May 6 and 7, and during other working days.

The scenaries: