Bumble bees at the top of the world. A continuing passion project...

2 hours ago

4 min read

This summer was no different then the last. I attempted to fit in as much family and outdoor time as possible. Sometimes a challenge when I am mentoring new beekeepers, and trying to manage my own hives of 20+. In-between sailing over one mountain range and into another, conducting the National Honey Bee Survey for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. I work seasonally as the Apiary Specialist and tack on a few thousand miles each summer. With strategic planning, I managed to escape in the middle of peak bee season to a remote area of Colorado to search for high alpine bumble bees.

I welcome you to....

The Flat Tops Wilderness

Colorado has 23 to 24 different species of know bumble bees.

https://www.colorado.edu/cumuseum/sites/default/files/attached-files/thebumblebeesofcolorado-2017.pdf

This alpine region attracts me because of the remoteness of it and the sheer fortitude that it takes to bumble bee research at higher altitudes.

Max for this hike was 11,300 elevation. Here I am tomatoes faces and absolutely gassed!

Behind me is the Chinese Wall.

Shelli Quattlebaum Bumble bee research Colorado high Alpine

There are a couple of camp grounds on the way up to the Flat Tops, you can car camp or pitch a tent. Some spaces allow for 5th wheels, but the road up is really really washboard FYI.

This is how I started my day.....

A cup of gratitude.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/64a8fd_d566f865721d4148a8920035dadfa2a1/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

I carry all of my supplies and gear necessary to conduct my research, and everything I need to self rescue and survive incase I get caught in the alpine overnight. Timing is key to a successful day of research.

Start early!

Do not underestimate how fast a storm can come to you when you are on the top of a mountain range. You are the tallest thing up there!

I also carry a cooler to hold my numbered tubes and to chill bumble bees. I also take my Canon 5D Mark IV and 100L Macro Lens and one wide lens.

I would also never leave on these excursions without my Gamin satellite phone and self protection. My sat phone relays my progress to my husband every 10 minutes our so throughout my hike. He knows where I am and if I stop moving for long periods, I will get a check in text from my husband to make sure I am still alive. There is a paid subscription for this, but I only use it for 6 months of the year and it is worth the peace of mind. I have seen Blackhawk helicopters fly over me searching for people in this areas. https://coloradosar.org/about/

I also track my GPS coordinates of where I net a bee at and put them in a numbered the tube. I take pictures of both with my cell phone. I caught roughly 15 to 20 bees, so you need a way to keep them all organized for your documentation to the Atlas.

I can keep track of:

Who (#bee)
What (Image of bee and floral source)
Where (Pic of Lat/Long) and
When (time)

for the Mountain States Bumblebee Atlas.

https://www.bumblebeeatlas.org/pages/mountain-states

Example:

Garmin sat phone
Bumble be in 50ml tube

There are lots of columbines, forget-me-nots, and Indian pain brushes.

As you climb higher, the paint brushes turn lighter and lighter in color to a soft peach at the top.

F0r-get-me-nots
Dwarf bilberry
short willow

I had the pleasure to talk to a lot of fellow hikers that day. I met a 4 friends and their sweet dog at the top of the Devils Causeway. I was walking around swinging a net and kind of stood out.

They asked me what the heck I was up to and why up here!

After a short talk, I found out they are also beekeepers .

We are everywhere!

Look at the staircase to go up the causeway

We all hung out on the side of a cliff face and had lunch together.

This picture bellow was taken while we had lunch.

They were all from Steamboat, a ski town north from this area.

Cliff side lunch looking north to Steamboat

I also met another lovely women they told me I need to go the Zirkel Wilderness next summer.

Thank you to everyone for all of the curious questions.

I love to engage people in what I am doing.

Bellow are some of the bumble bees I found.

These bees have all been sedated by putting them on ice for a little while.

They enter a state of torpor so I can hold them and move them about to take pictures.

Once they warm up, they will fly back to their nest.

Enjoy!

Forest bumble bee

(Bombus sylvicola)

Forest bumble bee (Bombus sylvicola) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Forest bumble bee (Bombus sylvicola) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Forest bumble bee (Bombus sylvicola) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Forest bumble bee (Bombus sylvicola) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Forest bumble bee (Bombus sylvicola) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Forest bumble bee (Bombus sylvicola) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado

Two-form bumble bee

(Bombus bifarius (incl. vancouverensis))

Two-form bumble bee (Bombus bifarius (incl. vancouverensis)) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Two-form bumble bee (Bombus bifarius (incl. vancouverensis)) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Two-form bumble bee (Bombus bifarius (incl. vancouverensis)) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Two-form bumble bee (Bombus bifarius (incl. vancouverensis)) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Two-form bumble bee (Bombus bifarius (incl. vancouverensis)) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Two-form bumble bee (Bombus bifarius (incl. vancouverensis)) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado

Frigid Bumble Bee

(Bombus frigidus)

Notice how fuzzy this one is on her legs.

Frigid Bumble Bee (Bombus frigidus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Frigid Bumble Bee (Bombus frigidus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Frigid Bumble Bee (Bombus frigidus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Frigid Bumble Bee (Bombus frigidus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Frigid Bumble Bee (Bombus frigidus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
Frigid Bumble Bee (Bombus frigidus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado

High Country bumble bee

(Bombus kirbiellus)

High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado
High Country bumble bee (Bombus kirbiellus) Shelli Quattlebaum Colorado