Goat Mountain- week 4

This might have been our last visit of the season. It has recently frosted in the alpine areas of Goat Mt. and the huckleberry leaves have turned red. The Cascade Blueberry fruit are starting to wither at the lower elevations, but are still plump and tasty higher up in the meadows. Not much is flowering besides Indian Paintbrush, Pearly Everlasting, and a few asters. Amazingly, Edible Thistle (Cirsium edule) was still flowering and providing the only food for bumble bees that we observed. I believe all the bees that I observed were drones. Now is the time to see bears in the alpine, but we have not yet seen any.

Tachinid fly on Pearly Everlasting

Drone bumble bee on Edible Thistle

Cascade Blueberry with red foliage

Ripe Black Huckleberries

Goat Mountain- week 3

The ground is drying out on Goat Mountain. Most of the creeks that the trail crosses are dry and many of the early flowers are done blooming. Black Huckleberries and Cascade Blueberries are even starting to ripen! The weather was very warm and the bumble bees were spending most of their time on Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium). One patch of Fireweed that was no bigger than 30 feet in diameter had more than 30 bees! Perhaps on account of the abundance of bees, their visits to individual flower blossoms were very brief. However, I noticed that the bumblebees would spend a minute or more on Edible Thistle (Cirsium edule).

Bombus melanopygus on Canadanthus modestus

Bombus melanopygus on Canadanthus modestus

Bombus melanopygus on Chamerion angustifolium

Bombus melanopygus on Chamerion angustifolium

Bombus melanopygus on Angelica arguta

Bombus sylvicola on Chamerion angustifolium

Bombus sylvicola on Chamerion angustifolium

Bombus sylvicola on Cirsium edule

Bombus sylvicola on Cirsium edule

Goat Mountain- week 2

Not to be discouraged by a little rain, I left Bellingham in a downpour to see how tough those bumble bees really are. It was still sprinkling at the trailhead and I actually managed to stay dry until I got into wet brush just below the tree line, at which point my pants quickly became sodden. It was misting heavily and probably in the high 50s or low 60s when I broke into the subalpine. There wasn't much insect activity, but I did spot a large queen foraging on a False Azalea and a worker (Bombus melanopygus) on a Valerian.

I set up two more plots, so now I have three.

Phenological notes:

Embryonic Cascade Blueberry berries

Cascade Blueberry (Vaccinium deliciosum) -- mostly done flower, with only a few flowers. Most plants had embryonic berries and a few were filled out and green.

White Rhododendron (Rhododendron albiflorum) -- just starting to flower.

Subalpine Fleabane (Erigeron peregrinus) -- just starting to flower

Subalpine Spiraea (Spiraea densiflora) -- just starting to flower

Bistort (Bistorta sp.) -- just starting to flower

Pink Mountain Heather (Phllodoce empetriformis) -- flowering

Slender Bog Orchid (Platanthera stricta) -- flowering

Sitka Valerian (Valeriana sitchensis) -- flowering

Bracted Lousewort (Pedicularis bracteosa) -- flowering
(Arnica latifolia) -- flowering
(Veronica sp.) -- flowering
(Castilleja sp.) -- flowering


False Azalea (Menziesia ferruginea) -- flowers fading

Sitka Mountain-ash (Sorbus sitchensis) -- flowers fading

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) -- flowers fading

Glacier Lily (Erythronium grandiflorum) -- Didn't see [finished]

Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata) Didn't see [finished]

Goat Mountain- week 1

I hiked up Goat Mountain on Thursday July 3rd. There was very little snow in the subalpine (probably less that 10% cover) and I set up my first plot in the first open meadow I came to. For some reason I only purchased 4 stakes, so I will have to set up additional plots in two weeks. In some places the Cascade Blueberry is just starting to leaf out, in others it is flowering. I saw many more bees a little lower amongst Oval-leaf Blueberry and Slide Alder. There were only a few Bumble Bees at my site but many wasps. I spent most of my time trying to get good photographs of the different Vaccinium flowers for this website.
-Abe