![\"Hunting](\"https:\/\/aphidtrek.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Stink-water-v-2015-3-web.jpg\")
<\/a>Hunting camp among the junipers, Stinking Water Mts., Oregon.<\/p><\/div>\n
We drove past wild horses and through the remains of a recent range fire to arrive at this huge hunting camp (hunting camps are used by hunters in the fall hunting season, and only by the occasional back country camper the rest of the year). It was still early in the season at this site, but a few aphids and psyllids were found.\u00a0 One of the plants I study for the biology of Nasonovia (Kakimia)<\/em> and Aphis (Bursaphis)<\/em> was common: Ribes cereum.\u00a0 <\/em>This is the host for some well-known aphid species, and some that seem to be poorly known or undescribed.\u00a0 It is among the first plants to break dormancy in spring, and the aphids are right there with it, developing in the coldest spring weather these high deserts can dish out. The second trip was to the mountains outside Lakeview, Oregon, called the Warner Mountains. While most years this area would have been under snow on Memorial Day, climate change and a warm winter let us reach almost anyplace we wanted to without snow.\u00a0 There was a threat of rain here and there, but fabulous weather, with temperatures above 10C most of the time and clouds floating by to mix up the sky.\u00a0 Aphids were not abundant, but some unusual finds were made nonetheless, including my first ever collection on the uncommon sagebrush called Artemisia spinescens<\/em> (on the way home, heading toward Denio, Nevada).\u00a0 Our camp was set up among some fabulous giant ponderosa pines.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n