polar bumble bees expedition days 5 & 6: marion creek to toolik field station

Day 5 - Marion Creek to Galbraith Lake 7/2 
We left Marion Creek, heading for Atigun Pass. On the way to Atigun Pass we saw a beautiful white wolf! We stopped to watch it for a little while until it walked into the trees and vanished from sight. At the top of Atigun Pass we found a bunch of tiny Arctic flowers (Dryas, Claytonia, Papaver, Draba) but sadly no bees. Once through the pass we stopped at a windy gravel pad for lunch and bee scouting, but despite lots of Oxytropis (locoweed) we found no bees there either. We opted to continue onward toward Galbraith Lake, and stopped near the pipeline where we caught a few bees foraging on Hedysarum alpinum. We finished the day at Galbraith Lake, where the mosquito population was downright spectacular near the lake. Fortunately the numbers declined a bit with distance from the lake, so we camped near the pit toilet rather than in the cloud of bloodsuckers.


Day 6 - Galbraith Lake to Toolik Field Station 7/3 
In the morning we dispersed to search for bees around Galbraith Lake. The scenery was gorgeous, and provided a lovely backdrop to morning field work. We collectively caught 2 bumble bees, but missed a couple of others. We noticed that the bees here were nest-searching rather than foraging, ducking between rocks and into holes in the ground.
After packing up we doubled back south, stopping at the Atigun River and south of Holden Creek. At the river we saw tundra swans fly overhead, and collected a very large Bombus insularis (a socially parasitic bumble bee!) queen. South of Holden Creek I found some sweat bees (Halictus) foraging on Potentilla, and Jessica caught a Bombus occidentalis queen. The bees are much more sparse so far north of the Brooks Range, and we’re only seeing occasional individuals.
We headed north to Toolik Field Station, where we had a feast of party leftovers (steak! crab legs!) for lunch before orientation and another (fruitless but beautiful) collecting bout on a tussock-y hillside north of Toolik. We ended the day with a delicious dinner and refreshing time in the sauna.