Life on the Outer Coast

Friday, June 22

Figured out the mystery of the yellow-green flies last night. I had stored the creatures in a jar on my desk and the jar ended up as the fifth bug trap in the plot. At least this bit of idiocy wasn't painful.

The class did capture an amazing number of beetles over night in the traps. One trap had 16 of what I believe is a species of Scaphinotus and another beetle that looks like a Calosoma frigidum. Another had 5, two traps were empty, and one had a very small spider. I definitely need a better way to identify insects than the hunt through the photos method.

Noticed the first Erigeron peregrinus blooming today along the Cross trail. I haved saved one garden bed for growing odd looking Erigeron, I would like to find out how much of the variability is genetic vs. environmental.

The other plant that caught my eye today was Rubus pedatus. There seems to be more flowers than I've noticed in other years. It could be that I'm traveling in more open country and that plants in lighter habitat bloom more (I suspect that is true). I'll have to brave Totem park to look at the plants growing there. Also found more Claytonia sibirica blooming along Indian River. I need to hike up the river again soon to look at the Arnicas by the first big bridge.

Found another sedge today. Found isn't the best word as I've been walking by it for days and finally saw it. The latest is Carex stylosa. It is caespitose, with a terminal staminate spike and 3-4 erect and congested pistillate spikes. The bracts are dark colored and the perigynia are green at the base and dark toward the apex (they may turn all brown in the end). Other useful characteristics are that the lowermost bract is shorter than the inflorescence and the perigynal bracts are shorter than the perigynia.

Saw a Townsends Warbler eating insects in the plot as well the resident sapsucker. Heard the chickadees. We also saw a sapsucker or maybe two by the river.

Another sunny day, hopefully the class will have good weather for our Verstovia climb next week.