4 August 2016.
Yesterday we had another successful and breathtaking day collecting monkeyflowers in Unalaska. Here are some pictures, including some bees pollinating flowers in the Aleutians.
Category: Wildlife
1 August 2016.
In 1805, Grigori von Langsdorff, a naturalist travelling with a Russian expedition, reached the island of Unalaska. Welcomed by the Unangan people that approached their ship in baidarkas (kayaks), Langsdorff and some of the crew crossed Beaver Inlet and reached the shore in Ugadaga Bay. Along the way, Langsdorff discovered two new plant species, and one of them would eventually spread as far as Scotland and New Zealand.
Today, we traced back the steps of Langsdorff in search of the plant he discovered 211 years ago: the yellow monkeyflower Mimulus guttatus.
As we descended into Ugadaga bay, the Aleutians gave us a spectacular and very rare welcome. A cloudless, bright blue sky highlighted the intense green of the vegetation. The green mountains were only interrupted occasionally by rock screes and a few snow patches resisting the summer.
In the narrow and steep gorge cut by the stream crossing the valley, we found the first monkeyflowers. A few scattered plants hanging on the banks, and blooming profusely with yellow fury. Finding this plants is the culmination of our National Geographic expedition to the Aleutians.
It was easy to be thrilled and moved realising that we had found Langsdorff’s plants and walked the same ancient trail that he took to reach the village of Iliuliuk two centuries before.
As we descended onto the pebble beach, we saw and collected more monkeyflowers. We sat on the beach and dipped our toes in a salmon river at the south end of the bay. The Alaskan sun shone unimpeded by clouds. As we watched salmon in the river and bald eagles soaring above us I imagined the sense of discovery that Langsdorff must have felt as he travelled through the Aleutians.
In the afternoon, we set camp in Morris Cove and talked and watched the sun set in a sea teaming with sea otters and Steller sea lions. At midnight, after the sky finally darkened, the salmon approach the beach, jumping in search of the fresh water creek.
There are not many roads in Kodiak, and most of the island can only be reached by boat of seaplane. Today we found a way to combine our search for monkey flowers with sightings of Kodiak bears. In the morning we flew to Frazier lake in a small seaplane. The views were unbelievable, and along the way we saw humpback whales. We flew to the south of Kodiak, and there, in a river full of salmon we prepared to catch some brown bears feeding. Our first encounter with a bear, though, was on the trail, as a bear decided to use the same path as us. We quickly stepped off the path so the bear could go continue, but the bear was not keen in getting too close to strangers either. This brief encounter was enough to send our heart racing!
When we got to the falls and pools where the salmon passes, three Kodiak bears were waiting for us! A sow and her two cubs were gorging on salmon. They seemed to fish salmon with such little effort, and eat wastefully only the best parts of it (brain, belly, eggs, skin). There is so much salmon in the rivers, that bears don’t bother eating them whole, and a flock of seagulls was quick to finish off the meal. We had a good couple hours watching these bears as they fed and played, laying lazily in the water or on the shore. A second group of mum and two cubs followed the first one, and the show repeated itself. The new cubs were younger, and the tiniest of them was a charismatic little rascal with a penchant for fishing. And he did not want to share the tasty salmon not even with his mom, and an endearing but decisive growl made mom and brother desist in their attempts to steal his fish.
After viewing the bears, we ran down the path to a Mimulus population and collected some material and photos. This is a very special population, and somehow I managed to convince Jannice to call it “OSO”.
In the afternoon, we joined Josh and set off to explore the southernmost place in kodiak that you can reach by car. We arrived to Fossil Beach late afternoon, and were amazed by the thousands of mollusk fossils embedded in a lost very rock! And lo and behold, we found monkey flowers here too! We first saw them in some inaccessible cliffs, but a lucky scramble in a more gentle gully brought us first a few monkey flowers, and then more near a small lake or river. We were delighted to find more plants at this slightly more southern location. The perfect day ended when, as we drove back, near Pasagshack, we found one of the largest populations of Mimulus I have ever seen! Thousands of plants (more than 10,000 according to the expert eye of Josh and Jannice) covered the floor at the base of a cliff. The extremely diminutive plants had managed an undeniable success producing even more seeds.
What a wonderful 48 hours we have passed in Kodiak. In barely over two days we have accomplished one of the key goals of our expedition: Sample monkey flowers in the island that Langsdorff visited 210 years ago. Little by little, I feel we are closing into finding an answer to the mystery of where do Scottish monkey flowers come from.
Tomorrow we embark on a big adventure. In the afternoon, we will board the Trusty Tusty (an old and well-known Alaskan ferry), to travel for nearly three days along the Alaska peninsula and towards the Aleutian Islands.
Today we flew into Kodiak, the second largest US island after Hawaii. The clouds were low, hugging the tree-covered coast, and only at he last minute we saw the green island appear. The slopes were covered with Sitka spruce, and everything seemed wet and coloured with deep tones of green. After landing we picked up the plant press and satellite phone that Steffi had mailed for us. We left the airport and stopped near a Coast Guard harbour.
Jannice was first to spot them. A yellow streak coming down in a small stream that cascaded down the black mountain. “I think I saw them”. Josh and I looked incredulous but when we stopped and started looking around we quickly discovered that there were Mimulus everywhere! “Look at the stolons!” shouted Jannice in excitement of seeing the lateral branches that Mimulus uses to clone itself. We were very excited to have found it so quickly! A trip across continents to find Mimulus in Alaska has started well!
After this quick scouting trip we headed back to Kodiak where we met Stacy Studebaker. She is the local expert in the botanical riches of the Alaskan archipelago. And what a knowledgable and kind person she is! With her help, exploring Kodiak has been fun and very rewarding. So far we have sampled four populations, and spotted many more. Along the way we saw bald eagles, waiting for salmon, “psycho” ravens stealing bagels and shouting high-pitched sounds with unknown purpose, several Alaskan specialists plants, which are too numerous to name here, a salmon weir, and floatplanes flying low above our heads. All against the amazing backdrop of the green, lush vegetation of Kodiak.
The day ended with processing leaf and seed samples, herbarium material, and a trip to the local restaurant. What a great way to start the trip!
And tomorrow a trip in float plane to look for Mimulus in more remote parts of the island… and also to try to spot Kodiak bears. Stay tuned!
