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.
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| Tachinid fly on Pearly Everlasting |
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| Drone bumble bee on Edible Thistle |
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| Cascade Blueberry with red foliage |
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| Ripe Black Huckleberries |
