Oregon Fir Sawyer (Longhorn Beetle family)

in #photography7 years ago

We went camping recently in eastern Oregon, looking for a good spot to come back to in August to view the solar eclipse from the path of totality. We decided on eastern Oregon because it is much less likely to be overcast / cloudy on the date of the eclipse (eastern Oregon is a high desert). We went down one unmarked forest service road after another and found some amazing spots.

One of the highlights of the trip for me were these beetles. They were all over the place - we were driving along a ridgeline that had served as a geographical barrier to a forest fire in the past. The east side of the ridge was a burn zone while the top of the ridge and the west side of the ridge had escaped the fire. The larvae of Oregon Fir Sawyer beetles feed on fire-killed pines and firs, overwintering deep in the wood while still in larvae form to resume feeding the following summer and then metamorphosizing into pupae form the next fall to overwinter and finally emerge as adult beetles next spring, two years into their life cycle (at lower elevations and farther south these beetles can complete the life cycle in a single year). The adult beetles are very clumsy flyers and kept smacking straight into us. This one ran into my glasses and just stopped there, hanging on for dear life. I took the opportunity to snap some pictures. Most of the beetles had alternating black and white bands on their antennae but this one did not - I believe it is still the same species though.
Oregon Fir Sawyer beetle 2.jpg

Oregon Fir Sawyer beetle.jpg

Here is the campsite we are planning on coming back to for the eclipse - it hadn't been camped at in several years at least (I had to clear back wild roses that had overgrown the fire pit) and is on top of the ridge at a saddle where a valley opens out to the east overlooking the high desert - we are going to have amazing views for the eclipse. This picture is looking west at our camp across the flat top of the ridge - immediately behind me as I took the picture is the head of the valley which opens out to the east, filled with fire killed pines.

20170702_092805.jpg

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