Bear Creek in June

We went up to the Methow to teach students in the Master's Program from the North Cascades Institute about native bees. They camped up in the Bear Creek campground and I explored around that area when there were a few extra minutes. The flowers were lush and the grass is still green. Don gave his presentation in the evening and then it rained overnight. It got up to just over 60 degrees by about 9:30 and it warmed up a little more, but people kept their coats on (and we didn't take the temp. again). The weather stayed overcast for the most part, though there were occasional breaks in the clouds with some blue sky peaking through. There was some light rain after lunch. The students found a decent selection of bees, especially megachilids and osmia. I saw at least two types of Bumble bees. The most unusual find what when Charlie spotted large metallic blue-green beetles mating in the lupine.

Posted on June 10, 2018 02:36 PM by wenatcheeb