BUGGING OUT IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Guest Post by Paige Arnold

My granddaughter Paige spent five weeks participating in a summer research project at Glacier National Park sponsored by the Keck Geology Consortium at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. I thank her for her perceptive thoughts about her encounters with bugs during her time at Glacier NP. "Bugging Out in Glacier National Park" is republished from the Keck Geology Blog, where you can also find posts by other members of the research team.

My first day in the field, I felt a bit like a moth in the daytime. Surrounded by unfamiliar sights, sounds, and creatures (fellow Keck students included), I felt completely out of my element and like I was being pulled in every direction possible. The overwhelming environment around me led me to focus my gaze on something smaller, something more familiar that would allow me to start with details rather than the full picture: bugs. 

Glacier National Park is full of bugs, the most notable of which to most is the mosquito (impossible not to notice if even one manages to sneak into your tent overnight or if you stand still for a second too long). If you look a bit further, though, there are plenty of insects hiding just out of sight or perhaps below a particularly large rock. 

Some disguise themselves as other species, like the hover fly which adopts the patterning of a bee as a survival strategy. Some are so prominent and strange-looking that even a bug-enjoyer like myself has to stop and ask “oh my god how did that even HAPPEN” (looking at you, sawyer beetle). Some are enjoyed by all, like the Chlosyne Palla butterfly that stopped some of us in our tracks during a particularly busy coring day, and some are widely disliked, like the mosquito (self explanatory). 

No matter how high or low we were, the amount of bugs surrounding us never seemed to drop. We saw the same anise swallowtails and hover flies both down near Swiftcurrent Lake where one minute out of the shade made my vision swim, and up near Iceberg lake, where the ground stays covered by snow in the middle of July. 

Over time, the environment that once felt blinding started to feel promising, and instead of shying away from it I began to drink it in, like a caterpillar eating every leaf in sight in preparation for its eventual metamorphosis. Though my appreciation for Glacier’s bugs started out as an independent pursuit, as I began to feel more at home my interest became more widespread throughout the group. Some bugs we named and held dear to our hearts (Francis, Margo, Margo 2, Margo n+1), and some we briefly admired (or peeked at from a safe distance) before moving on. 

Near the end of the trip, I resonated with many of the bugs I had seen during my time in the park. Over time and continuous exposure, I developed a thicker outer shell like a beetle’s, which allowed me to enjoy the park despite the weather, long days, and unfamiliar camping lifestyle. Near the middle, I began to separate from my cocoon as I gained comfort among the environment and my peers, tentatively beginning to take steps outside my comfort zone. As opposed to the beginning of the trip where I felt like a moth under the sun, in the very last days I felt like the moths we saw on bathroom breaks from stargazing; content, peaceful, and at rest.

 For more about this and other Keck Geology programs, go to the Keck Geology website.

BUTTERFLIES OF KIBALE FOREST NATIONAL PARK, Uganda, Part 1, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Little Pansy (Junonia sophia), Kibale National Park, Uganda

My friend Karen Minkowski, truly an intrepid tourist, has spent much of her life in the field observing wild animals. She spent several months last year in Africa, including time in Kibale Forest National Park. In this three part post she shares her photos and observations of some of the wildlife there, particularly its wonderful diversity of butterflies. Parts 2 and 3 will follow in the next two weeks.

This image of a Herminia Glider (Cymothoe herminia) looks more like a

chalk pastel drawing than a photo.

Slogging through mucky swamps, slipping and sliding on steep, wet slopes and occasionally beating a hasty retreat from elephants, I was overjoyed to be in Uganda's beautiful Kibale Forest National Park. As a volunteer with Makerere University Biological Field Station, on the Park's western side, I was checking for missing ID tags on the trail system that has been expanding since field studies began there in 1970. Wildlife was all around me.

Black and white colobus monkey.

In my free time I watched monkeys, looked for the birds that were calling but hard to see, and photographed whatever I could. The butterflies - diverse, elegant and often brilliantly colored - were among my favorite subjects.

A main “artery” road through the forest that provides access to many trails

Forty-eight years earlier I'd managed camp for a university field course in this forest. My husband was one of the instructors (and Caroline's husband, Art, was a student!). Since then I'd returned a few times for short visits only. Tropical rain forest is for me a refuge, with its dense profusion of plant and animal life. I wanted to get to know this forest at a slower pace, to have the time to observe more deeply. And I hoped to see a particular purpley-blue butterfly that I'd photographed in 1971 and carried a strong memory of all these years.

Black and white casqued hornbill.

Kibale Forest National Park's forests, grasslands, wetlands and woodlands support diverse and abundant populations of plant and animal life. Here are just a few examples.

Bushbuck.

Dung beetle.

Blue-headed agama lizard.

White-headed wood hoopoe.

Trail work ended at midday. My field assistant, Charles, had worked with the field station's trail crew for over 20 years and knew the forest intimately. He had much experience evading elephants and wanted us out of the forest well before early evening, when elephants became more active.
From my point of view elephants were active enough at any time of day, and more than once we abandoned work and left the forest upon finding signs of their close but unseen presence. The sounds of feeding, a pile of fresh warm dung, recently trampled vegetation – or the scent of an elephant, which Charles, but not I, could detect – were evidence that they were near. Though I never saw elephants in Kibale, they were always roaming through my head when I was in the forest.
On weekends, Richard, a former field assistant from the local community, was my guide.

Richard is making a detour around elephant “potholes” (footprints) filled with water, as they can be quite mucky.

With all my slipping and sliding on wet trails, it was reassuring to see that elephants did the same.

 *****

I am very grateful to Dr. David Tumusiime and Mr. Innocent Kato for welcoming me as a volunteer at the Makerere University Biological Field Station and for their hospitality and support during my stay from April 9 to June 19, 2019. Many others on the MUBFS staff and in the Kanyawara community helped me as well. I thank Nelson Guma of Uganda Wildlife Authority for expediting permission for me to reside and work in Kibale for that time period.It was a remarkable experience that I will always treasure. Thanks to Dr. Freerk Molleman, who kindly made available for download his Butterflies of Uganda: Kibale Forest (2012) and also identified some of my photos. Likewise, Dr. Sille Holm identified several moths and the family of a moth larva. I also consulted The Anglia Ruskin University guide to butterflies of Kibale Forest, Uganda, by Alvin J. Helden, Fabrizio Manco and Sophie Mowles, v.2 (2018); A Field Guide to the Butterflies of East Africa, by John G. Williams (1969); and the internet. Any errors in identification are my own.