This week, my crew and I set up our plots at our last two sites, White Mountain and Quaking Aspen, and their controls.  The dominant flowering forbs right now are mostly Eriogonum, Sedum and Castilleja.  Although it’s been quite dry at our sites, it’s lovely to see (and count, for our project) the colorful blooms blanketing some of our plots.

Sedum lanceolatum is blooming in many plots

A senescing inflorescence of Eriogonum ovalifolium

A spent fruit of the delicate and adorable Eriogonum caespitosum

Castilleja flava

Ipomopsis aggregata

One mishap this trip was flat tires!  Although we drive very slowly, some of the two tracks we travel on to reach our sites are quite rough, and we had the misfortune to get two flat tires at the same time.  Since we only carry one spare, Thor from the Rock Springs BLM office was kind enough to bring us another.  We have since replaced our tires with more sturdy and appropriate 10-ply tires.

Field tech Aaron keeps a lookout for our spare tire backup

We have had some gorgeous insects in our collections this trip!  Brilliant blue-green Osmia,  strikingly patterned Anthidium, Bombyliid flies, many beetles, and Vespid wasps have dominated our collections, which we are still working on pinning.  However, no Windy Bugs post would be complete without some arthropod photos….

A tiny crab spider (Thomisidae) on Achillea millefolium

Ants on a dead Jerusalem cricket (Stenopelmatidae)

An adorable Solfugid! Love them!

A bombyliid fly on Eremogone hookeri, a very common little mat plant

Large mammals continue to abound at our sites.  While camping in an aspen stand, we had curious mule deer checking us out every night.  Pronghorn with their fawns are a frequent sight, and wild horses were also a common sight.

A mother pronghorn with her twins

Horses eye us before sauntering away

It’s been a very productive week and I’m looking forward to revisiting all of our sites in July!  Soon I will post on insect pinning and our growing collection.

Me and field tech Aaron enjoy some breathtaking views

Sunset and the largest moon of the year over the Boar’s Tusk