Anyways, while it is snowing really hard outside right now, I have entered the data I collected yesterday, sorted my photos taken the past few days, and then decided to write this post.
May 9th
My labmate was examining cocoons and saw these spirally frass inside a cocoon. Based on the orange colour, we suspect it is one of the composite-specialist bees - either Osmia montana or O. coloradensis.
May 10th
Where do you know requires carrying an electric space heater to work in the morning?
Our frigid cabin.
What Gothic looked like when lightly-blanketed by snow.
What Gothic looked like when lightly-blanketed by snow.
But by the afternoon, the sky cleared and the snow melted. I decided to go out and locate a site with Mertensia fusiformis plants to begin my field season.
Flowering M. fusiformis.
Other plants flowering at the same time as M. fusiformis.
Mountain parsley (Cymopterus lemmonii)
Sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
My study site at Gothic.
May 11th
We tried to drive to Kebler Pass to check out what the snow condition was like over there, and this was what we saw. Guess I am not doing any work here any time soon.
The road was plowed towards Irwin, but not towards Kebler Pass. This is what the place needs to look like (from June 5th, 2014) before I can work here.
A winter wonderland.
The road was plowed towards Irwin, but not towards Kebler Pass. This is what the place needs to look like (from June 5th, 2014) before I can work here.
A winter wonderland.
Another reason we went to Kebler Pass was to repair some of the bee nest boxes set up around a clearing.
We don't think the bees/wasps are emerging from this site any time soon.
In the afternoon, I returned to my study site at Gothic and began my floral orientation experiment.
While manipulating the orientation of my plants, I saw this Andrena sp. hanging around a M. fusiformis.
Maybe it was just searching for a nest site.
Maybe it was just searching for a nest site.
Poor photo of a Milbert's Tortoiseshell (Aglais milberti).
Bombus bifarius visiting M. fusiformis.
Unknown ladybug (Hippodamia sp.) visiting Spring beauty (Claytonia lanceolata).
Bombus bifarius visiting M. fusiformis.
Unknown ladybug (Hippodamia sp.) visiting Spring beauty (Claytonia lanceolata).
May 12th
A Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) perched above me while I was working.
B. bifarius (also commonly known as the Black-notched Bumble bee) exiting from a potential nest site.
Flowering M. fusiformis.
B. californicus visiting M. fusiformis.
Got this lucky shot of the B. californicus leaving the flowers.
Formica obtusopilosa moving their colony. I saw many workers carrying a nestmate in a typical carrying posture (not shown here).
B. californicus visiting M. fusiformis.
Got this lucky shot of the B. californicus leaving the flowers.
Formica obtusopilosa moving their colony. I saw many workers carrying a nestmate in a typical carrying posture (not shown here).
Dark-eyed Junco foraging on the ground.
Dark clouds over South Gothic and Mt. Crested Butte. Looks almost like the same view from last year.
I was trying to photograph all the different colours I can see - blue sky, white clouds and snow, dark green trees, grey mountain and trees, green field, and orange-tipped willow.
Trying out the HDR function on my camera.
This was a very intense-looking HDR view of Gothic Mountain.
Dark clouds over South Gothic and Mt. Crested Butte. Looks almost like the same view from last year.
I was trying to photograph all the different colours I can see - blue sky, white clouds and snow, dark green trees, grey mountain and trees, green field, and orange-tipped willow.
Trying out the HDR function on my camera.
This was a very intense-looking HDR view of Gothic Mountain.
May 13th
A tiny grasshopper resting on my notebook.
Northern rock jasmine (Androsace septentrionalis)
M. fusiformis flowers filled with rainwater. Some of the variables I am measuring in my floral orientation experiment are flower and ambient temperature and water volume inside flowers. For example, the flower pointing directly at you had a floral temperature (at the base of the anthers) of 11.6 degrees Celsius while the ambient temperature was 10.6 degrees Celsius. The water volume inside that particular flower was 21 microliters.
May 14th
Went to Gunnison in the afternoon to buy groceries. Here are some photos along the way.
Went to Gunnison in the afternoon to buy groceries. Here are some photos along the way.
May 15th
Couldn't do any work today because it was snowing on and off for most of the day.
Here was a view of Gothic Mountain in the morning. Larger image here.
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