Boulder Field Ecology Course (ENVS 3100) Spring 2023s Dagbok

It was a gorgeous spring Boulder day- sunny and about 70 degrees. The painted turtles agreed, and they were seen sunning themselves on a log in one of the back ponds along the trail. We made our way from SEEC along the trail, where we saw red-winged blackbirds, grackles, lots of different ducks (most notably, some Greater Scaup ducks), and geese. Colorful grasshoppers where all over the place, and I tried (and failed again) to catch some early season White Cabbage Butterflies. Early season flowers are making their way to the sun as well. We ended in the greenhouse to observe our final day of our seedling project. My dirt from Nederland didn't grow anything :( but many others had spouts, flowers, and vines (oh my!).

Today the weather was 45 degrees, sunny, and breezy. The trail was through a mostly Ponderosa-dominated forest but we did notice some Douglas Firs. We noticed many flowers including spring beauty, Oregon grapes, violets, golden flags, and pasque flowers. Most were yellow (og, v, gf). We discussed the advantages and disadvantages of being an early flower that is the same colors as other early blooming flowers. There was a hummingbird that kept whizzing by but I never got a chance to see it and did not hear it on the descent. I caught a look at a flying insect I thought was a bee but turned out to be a bee fly which is a fly that hoovers! Our presentations were on Rocky Mountain uplift, fire in front-range ecosystems, and generalists vs. specialists.

We arrived at Deadman Gulch around 1:30. It was sunny with dry ground. It was a rocky/canyon landscape with Ponderosas and some Douglas firs. We followed a creek all the way up to our first presentation spot where there were steady pools with some caddisflies. We heard about Rocky Mountain Uplift from Will and then Fire and the Front Range from Alex. After that we went up the mountain side and continued with the third presentation about Generalist vs Specialist species by Zakary. Some things we saw along the way include: spring beauties, golden flax, pasque flower, geranium, and some bones possibly from a deer.

Today we shuttled up to Long Canyon along Flagstaff rd and walked to Gregory Canyon. The weather was 60 degrees, sunny, and a bit breezy. At the beginning portion, the trail was shaded and still had snow. We saw many familiar species like douglas fir, mullen, gopher holes, and mistletoe. We saw some mule deer and a parasitic plant known as pinedrop which laches onto the roots of pine trees. Then we talked about the most southern colony of pine birches and talked about horse's hair. The trail took us to an outcrop where we sat for a 5-minute contemplation and enjoyed the view. Finally, on our descent we walked by many flowering plants and spotted two stellar's jays.