Last weekend Great Basin National Park hosted a Beetle Bioblitz. During a 24-hour period, more than forty people traipsed throughout the park collecting beetles, searching a variety of habitats from 5,300 feet to 10,800 feet.
The event started with a beetle workshop, where participants learned some beetle basics.
Beetles belong to the Order Coleoptera, and there are over 12,000 described types of beetles in the U.S. and over 300,000 worldwide. Wow! This amounts to about 25% of all living organisms. Even more amazing--there could possibly be 5 to 8 million beetle species--many of them remain undescribed.
Beetles include some commonly seen insects like "ladybugs" and lightning bugs.
Although beetles have hardened forewings (elytra), they have a second set of wings that allow (most of) them to fly.
There are many other cool facts about beetles at Wikipedia.
Southern Utah University from Cedar City, Utah, brought a display case of beetles, some found in the area, but the more dramatic ones as examples of how different beetles can be.
Other participants came from Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, University of Nevada-Reno, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and Nevada Department of Agriculture.
Participants had to keep track of where they collected beetles on data sheets and label their vials so that the park could keep a record of them.
Different collecting techniques were used, from turning over logs and rocks to installing pitfall traps, where unsuspecting beetles would fall into a cup and be trapped. Light traps were quite successful, as were sweep nets that were brushed through grasses, shrubs, and trees.
Following collection came the really hard part: identification. Fortunately there were some very talented entomologists (insect specialists) who were able to get the beetles sorted down to family in relatively short time. One of the entomologists, Jeff Knight from the Nevada Department of Agriculture, took the beetles back with him to identify them down to a further level.
The preliminary results were 716 beetles collected in at least 30 families. Over 600 hours of volunteer time made it all possible.
The national park now has a much better idea of the beetles that live in it. Typically, insects aren't high on anyone's priority list, so this beetle bioblitz made it possible to learn a lot in a relatively short period of time.
Bioblitzes are becoming more popular throughout the country. It might not be long until one comes to a place close to you! And if not, Great Basin National park plans to have another one next year and you can come out and participate!
Here are a few wildlife photos. Hopefully soon I'll get around to downloading more photos!
I saw this Great Blue Heron flying around the meadows, and then it landed on the road. It won't be around too much longer as the temperatures keep getting cooler. 
The event started with a beetle workshop, where participants learned some beetle basics. 
Southern Utah University from Cedar City, Utah, brought a display case of beetles, some found in the area, but the more dramatic ones as examples of how different beetles can be.
Participants had to keep track of where they collected beetles on data sheets and label their vials so that the park could keep a record of them.
Following collection came the really hard part: identification. Fortunately there were some very talented entomologists (insect specialists) who were able to get the beetles sorted down to family in relatively short time. One of the entomologists, Jeff Knight from the Nevada Department of Agriculture, took the beetles back with him to identify them down to a further level.
On Monday we had some wonderful rain. It brought the temperatures down considerably. It's been weeks and weeks since we've had rain, so it was great to hear the pitter-patter against the window panes.
But then we got some hail--that wasn't quite such a nice sound.
The little dandelion managed to survive the hail.
Late in the afternoon, Desert Boy got suited up with his irrigating boots and we went out to splash in puddles.
He particularly wanted to jump in the puddles.
It didn't take him long to get wet. Very wet. Especially when he fell down.
He would have played a lot longer, but it was a bit chilly and he eventually decided he wanted to go in and get warm. 
We had some tree trimmers come a week ago. They were planning on trimming the branches near the power lines, but it quickly became apparent that there was more rotten wood than good wood in this old Lombardy poplar, so they ended up taking down the whole tree.
The pieces are still in our driveway, and I keep trying not to run into them.
Here's part of the rotten trunk. It was over eight feet wide. It's likely that the tree was over a hundred years old. 
The wood isn't particularly strong, though, and as the tree age, it often reaches a stage where a large wind storm will blow it over.
A couple other trees near the cookhouse were in need of cutting, too, before they fell in the wrong direction and caused more damage.
Here's another view of those two trees. 
And Lombardy poplars tend to regenerate after they've been cut. This is one near our driveway. The tree fell about six or seven years ago and was cut at the stump. Now the regrowth is already over thirty feet high and looks good!
It was time for school photos the other day, and we were able to take Desert Boy. 
He wasn't too sure what to think about all the photography equipment, but he cooperated well, even with all the hair spraying (with water) and combing.
Here are some of the kids in line, with teachers and parents close by to make sure they didn't get messed up at the last minute.
What Desert Boy liked best was playing with the older kids after his photo was taken.
He was introduced to Battleship. I remember playing this at Grandma's house years and years ago.
He got some lessons from his cousin. It was a good afternoon!
