Last Monday John and I
monitored three transects at Baker River and three at Anderson Watson. It was a
nice day out around 80 degrees with smoke in the air and close to no breeze;
but the flies were out and about. At Baker River we saw foam flower and miners
lettuce at all transects. Fireweed and buttercup were present in some areas but
nearing the end of blooming. |
| Pink mountain heather |
At Anderson Watson we had to
go off trail to get to a couple of the transects which was adventurous and fun!
Except for the flies once again in the 80 degree weather. At transect one, daisy, white mountain
heather, foam flower, and five leaved bramble were moderately present. Bees
were all around us collecting pollen mostly from pink heather - the most abundant flower. We also saw a few arnica flowers, queens cup,
and hawkweed here.
Walking up a stream bed with flowers all around, it was evident that transect two was more diverse
but had many similar plants to the previous one. These included five leaved bramble,
pink mountain heather, arnica, white mountain heather, and daisy. We also noted
a few others such as pink monkey flower, lupin (which the bees loved!),
partridge foot, slender bog orchid, veronica, sitka valerian, and sitka
mountain ash which was almost done blooming.
 |
| Lupin |
 |
| Bumblebee on arnica flower |
Overall snow was clearly well gone in all locations, and we found many of the flowering plants present were small and low to the ground. Bumblebees were definitely out in spite of the smokey air, and they seemed to have an affinity for the heathery meadows versus the areas with less but more diversity of flowers.
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