The Bug Geek

Our team drove about 100 km west and then east of Yellowknife today, looking for (and eventually finding) suitable sampling sites. 

Big Red and the gang, contemplating the site.

On our way out of town this morning, we saw THIS:

ZOMG BISON

We screeched to a halt and turned Big Red around in hopes of getting a closer look.  I honestly expected him to turn tail and flee into the trees, but he didn’t so much as glance our way (not even after we rolled down our windows and yelled “HEY BISON, OVER HERE!!!”).  It was like watching an extremely large and shaggy groundhog complacently chomping away at the side of an urban road:

I guess when you weigh many hundreds of pounds, a couple of puny southerners isn’t a major concern. We did another U-turn (we had science to do, after all), and then noticed this sign, directly across from where the bison was grazing:

Ironic sign.

Bison country indeed.

The weather was glorious today, which meant two things: the bugs were out in full force, and the bugs were out in full force.  This was both a good thing (when we were snagging nice butterflies and dragonflies and beetles) and not such a good thing (when the black flies and mosquito swarms found us) (although my biting-fly-researching-colleauge may not agree with my assessment of the latter being not-to-good).

See?  Look: beautiful.