https://www.wallawallawineservices.com/
 

To read the story and see photos from the U-B's chief photographer please visit:

Firefighters contain massive wheat fire north of Walla Walla

A "firenado" can be seen in the lower left of the smoke column just above a farmstead.

A tractor plowing a fire line ahead of a massive dark cloud of smoke.

Standing wheat burns in a wall of massive flames. Tractors work together to disc the standing wheat for fire lines.

Multiple images were stitched together for a panoramic photo showing the massive wall of smoke and flames.

Crews spray water on flames as the fire reaches Lower Waitsburg Road.

Flames create a menacing shape resembling the gaping mouth of a fire monster. Another tractor arrives to help plow fire lines near a farmstead.

A massive tractor gives scale to massive flames. 

Flames and smoke appear to surround a tractor as it cuts a fire line.

Fire trucks and crew work in tandem to douse flames. Crews work a scarred landscape putting out hot spots.

To read the story and see photos from the U-B's chief photographer please visit:

Firefighters contain massive wheat fire north of Walla Walla

And then, below, a couple on the drive home without flash.

Grass Widows (Olsynium douglasii)

The Umatilla Rim trail.  The view from the Umatilla Rim trail.  Pine Siskin (Spinus pinus)
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

A butterfly on Red Columbine. 

Rocky Mountain Clearwing (Hemaris thetis) taken with cell phone

A rattlesnake on Hells Canyon Road.

The view from the visitor center. Taken with a cell phone. 

Waking up to a foggy 4Runner window at the Ollokot campground. Taken with cell phone.

The cloudy view at the Hells Canyon overlook.

The Buck Creek trailhead.

Pine tree pollen in a mud puddle.

A Columbian Ground Squirrel.

Spittle bugs.

Sunset over Hells Canyon.

Sunset shadows in Hells Canyon.

A Whitetail deer and her twin fawns. 

Sacajawea Peak seen from Hurricane Creek trail in the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Geological formations in the cliffs along Hurricane Creek.

Fairy-slipper orchids (Calypso bulbosa) along the Hurricane Creek trail.

Tracy and me hiking Hurricane Creek. Cell phone selfie. 

A Fairy-slipper orchid at Horseshoe Prairie in the Umatilla National Forest.

The Umatilla Rim trail as it passes through Horseshoe Prairie. 

At twilight with the nucleus visible. 

After twilight with the tail detail.

And then the ISS flew over with the Milky Way in the background.

The next night I tried looking at it with my telescope from my backyard in Walla Walla.

Self portrait doing what I love.

NEOWISE headed for a tree.

Like an ornament touching the tip.

Looking for life outside of virus fear.

Here is what I found: upgrading one of our main streets, university students at leisure in our parks,
a father and daughter day on the track, and more.

It was a good day.

The project has been broken up into 400-square-mile adoptable grids in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. My grid is in the Umatilla National Forest. 

Using Google Maps satellite view I zoom in to select an area that looks like good habitat. In this case it is open grassland surrounded by pine forest.  

I then draw an approximately 2.5 acre boundary using Google Maps polygon tool. The tool will tell you the area of your shape as you draw it. I normally draw it over the satellite view but am using the map view here so you can see the shape more clearly. I save this map to my phone, make it available offline and then when on site I can use it to tell if I'm within my survey boundary.

I load up all of my gear and head into the mountains. My survey area often requires four wheel drive and high clearance. 

I make sure to obey all national forest laws regarding off road driving and wilderness boundaries for the area that I'm in.  This is where I set up alongside the main forest road.

I bring a load of supplies including a net, vials and a cooler. I get my specialized supplies from BioQuip. 

I number a bunch of vials and put silica packs in them. 

I then use a wind meter (This link goes to Amazon. I am an Amazon affiliate and receive
commision on referred sales.) to record wind speed and air temperature.

I then scout the area for where the bees are. This field had thousands of them. 

Each survey should last 45 minutes total survey time. I use a stopwatch on my phone and start the timer as I walk the survey area. Once a bee is found the clock is stopped until the bee is collected and I am ready to start looking for the next one.

I photograph the numbered vial next to the host plant the bee is captured on. Each submitted bee must include the host plant.

Bees are then put on ice to put them in a sort of hibernative state which makes them easier to work with.

The silica pack keeps moisture from condensing inside the vial. If moisture condenses the bee's hairs become wet which makes it more difficult to identify them by their markings. 

This is my camera setup with a macro lens, an extension tube and a flash with diffuser. 

I place the chilled bee on a 2mm graph paper to photograph.  The bee will be inactive for a couple minutes until it warms up and flies away unharmed.

To properly identify a bee it requires three angles. The side, top down and face of it.   Bumble bees can detach their wings from their wing muscles and vibrate. This is used mostly for a process called vibration pollination as a specialized way to extract pollen from flowers with encased stamens. They can also produce body heat this way. Here is a short video of a bee warming itself and flying away after being photographed.

After I'm done collecting and photographing the bees and plants I download the photos to my computer and begin organizing the files per bee. 

Every flowering plant in the 2.5 acre survey area must be identified regardless of bees being seen on them.

Once I've organized all of my files and identified all of the plants I begin uploading the data to Bumble Bee Watch. I do my best to identify the bees but thankfully it is reviewed by a scientist who either confirms the identification or corrects it. I do the minimum of two surveys per season but try to do as many as possible. The first year I did five. With driving time, doing the survey and processing and entering data each survey can take up to 10 hours of time. 

Queen on a dime.

Queen on my fingertip.

Queen with drone mating.

Drone after ending mating.

Worker, about 1mm long, on a blade of grass.

Queens and workers on blade of grass preparing to launch into nuptial flight.

A waterfall in Glacier National Park

Bear grass

Swiftcurrent trail through bear grass.

Tent caterpillars

Logan Pass

Mountain goat at Logan Pass

Lost Lake

Bighorn Sheep

Pronghorn at the National Bison Range

Tracy surveying species for iNaturalist

Pika

A tiny beetle on a daisy with pollen grains on the petals. 

A tiny fly on a tiny daisy. The grains on the petals are pollen. 

Possibly sphagnum moss that started growing from soil I mixed for carnivorous plants. 

Possibly a fern thallus growing in the same soil

Equipment list:

Canon 5D MK III

Sigma 150-600 Sport

Canon 24-70 2.8L II

Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II

Canon EF25 II Extension Tube

Driving on NF-6413 going to Elk Flats trailhead. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)

The survey habitat near Elk Flats. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)

What appears to be a B. bifarius male.

A bee fly (Bombylius ?) feeding on nettleleaf horsemint (Agastache urticifolia)

An unidentified male, possibly B. fervidous, on nettleleaf horsemint

A cobalt blue butterfly

A swallowtail butterfly

A bee fly

Where I set up in the shade. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)

A wind and temperature meter HoldPeak HP-866B. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)

A bumblebee in a glass vile to chill it on ice so that it's easier to work with. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)

Netting bees for a closer look. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)  

A pair of blister beetles mating

Looking down on the Grande Ronde river valley 

Looking towards the Wallowa mountains from an amazing viewpoint.

Crossing a narrow bridge over  the Grande Ronde river. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)  

Crossing the Grande Ronde river. (Google Pixel cellphone photo)

A sedated bee to make photographing and identifying them easier.
Possibly B. flavifrons? I am a newbie at this and not good at IDing yet! 

Camera Equipment list:

Canon 5D MK III

Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II

Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro (Original Version)

Canon EF25 II Extension Tube

Canon 1.4x iii Telephoto Extender

Flashpoint XPLOR 600 HSS

Equipment list:

Canon 5D MK III

Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro (Original Version)

Canon EF25 II Extension Tube

Equipment list:

Canon 5D MK III

Sigma 150-600 Sport

Canon 24-70 2.8L II

Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II

Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro (Original Version)

Canon EF25 II Extension Tube

Equipment list:

Canon 5D MK III

Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro (Original Version)

Canon EF25 II Extension Tube

Equipment list:

Canon 5D MK III

Sigma 150-600 Sport

Canon 24-70 2.8L II

Canon 70-200 2.8L IS II

Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro (Original Version)

Google Pixel XL 1

Carnegie Picture Lab

A black-throated sparrow
A California Tree Frog at the oasis

A group of tree frogs at the oasis

Palm fronds 
A phoebe

California palms at the oasis
Inside the oasis 
A Joshua Tree
Our campsite at Belle Campground, Joshua Tree

Tracy investigating desert burrows up close

The Mojave Desert

Pencil Cholla Cactus
A rock wall within Indian Cove

Desert Trumpet
Desert night view from our campsite with the Andromeda Galaxy showing top center of the sky

The Milky Way over Joshua Tree 
Our campfire 
Our campsite lit by the rising moon 
Antelope Squirrel  
Joshua Trees 

A shrike in a Joshua Tree
A Desert Spiny Lizard 
Cholla cactus 
The ruins at Joshua Tree Mill Trail
A Long-nosed Leopard Lizard found by Tracy 
A Jack Rabbit
Joshua Tree forest 
The Colorado Desert at the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park 
The Colorado Desert 
Landing in Seattle

See all the Summer Dance Lab photos here:

http://www.stevelenzphotography.com/summerdancelab

A swarm of honey bees

Sunset over warships near Coronado Island A jetBlue plane on approach seen above the San Diego Union-Tribune building

The San Diego skyline

Children exploring the beach on Coronado Island An agave plant

The desert mountains seen from the Pacific Crest Trail on Mount Laguna  Tracy on the Pacific Crest Trail at Mount Laguna One of the many memorials at Kwaaymii Point Flowers in Tracy's yard Part of a cactus 

Part of a cactus 

One of dozens of hummingbirds that visit Tracy's yard 

Flowers growing on the Sunset Trail on Mount Laguna 

Acorn Woodpecker holes with their cache of acorns stored inside 

Sunset view from Mount Laguna

Driving on I-8 near Los Terrinitos

A song sparrow at Point Reyes

A pocket gopher at Point Reyes

The beach near Tomales Point

An endangered Tule elk cow 

A raven near the Tomales Point trail

A wasp that has paralyzed a spider to lay her eggs on is dragging it to a hole in the ground 

A carrion beetle with mites

Two wasps either fighting or loving. Or both. 

A side view of their behavior 

A Tule elk calf 

A Tule elk bull sniffing the air 

A Tule elk bull stretching after lying on the ground a while 

Part of the herd of Tule elk at Tomales Point in Point Reyes National Monument 

A goup of bulls

A coyote over a ridge with the ocean in the background 

Beautiful erosion designs in the cliff

A vulture 

A vulture

A female coyote 

Two elephant seal bulls fighting. Each one will eventually reach a length of 16 feet and 6,000 pounds 

Elephant seals

Schooner bay

Cobweb thistle

A barn swallow

A California quail 

A white crowned sparrow

Abbotts Lagoon 

Abbotts Lagoon 

A great blue heron

Grasses at Abbotts Lagoon 

Abbotts Lagoon 

The ocean beach at Abbotts Lagoon 

Ants farming aphids for sugar on a cobweb thistle 

A cobweb thistle flower 

Waves at Limantour Spit

A sand dune  

Tracy photographing endangered snowy plovers at Limantour Spit in very strong winds

An osprey

A sea otter at Morro Bay

An endangered snowy plover at Sandspit beach

A long-billed curlew

From my backyard:

My room for the weekend (with a photo I took over the bed). Cape Cove room at Heceta Lightstation B&B

The view off the front porch.

The keepers' cat.

Baby starlings nesting above the porch.

A panoramic view of the coastline with the keepers house and lighthouse in the distance.

US Coast Guard

Vulture

Sealion

Nesting seabirds. 

Looking south to Florence, Oregon.

Wild Foxglove

A raccoon hunti​​​​​​ng at the Siletz Wildlife Refuge.

Siletz River

This rare assembly of performers will present their work one night only at
Whitman College’s Chism Hall on Saturday April 29th at 8 p.m. Admission is free.