The Days of Summer - Day Seventeen through Day Twenty-three

This part three of my Days of Summer photo project.  To learn more about the inspiration for this project and to see the photos from part one and part two click on the following links:

     The Days of Summer - Day One through Day Nine
     The Days of Summer - Day Ten through Day Sixteen

 Day 17 (07 July 2018) - Snowberry Clearwing Moth

We normally think of moths as nocturnal insects, but many are adapted to daytime living.  This includes a group of sphinx moths known as Clearwings.  In North America, there are four species in the genus Hemaris.  All fly by day.  They mimic the appearance of bumblebees and the feeding behavior of hummingbirds - thus they are often known as Bumblebee Moths or Hummingbird Moths.  This one is specifically known as the Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis) after a favorite larval host plant.  This photo was taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.  This probably not the best image from the day, but I cannot resist the subject.

Day 18 (08 July 2018) - Japanese Maple

This image of Japanese Maple leaves was taken in front of our house.  I like the silhouette of the red leaves against the blue sky and the details of the delicate veins in the central leaf.

Day 19 (09 July 2018) - Impression, Michigan Lily

If the previous photo was all about details.  This one is all about impressions.  This Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) was photographed at Mission Creek Woodland Park.  This photo reminds me of an Impressionist painting with only the blooms pistil and one or two stamen in sharp focus.  The rest of the flower is clearly visible but much softer.  It's all about the light!

The name given to this photo was inspired by the painting that Impressionism was named after:  Impression, soleil levant (Impression, sunrise) by Claude Monet.

Day 20 (10 July 2018) - Sunlight and Basswood

The photo for Day Twenty is also all about the light.  In this image sunlight filters down through the canopy, shedding light on American Basswood (Tilia americana) leaves.  The sun itself bursts through a gap in the upper right of the image. This image was taken in Mt. Pleasant at Mill Pond Park.

Day 21 (11 July 2018) - Waves of grass

I am constantly drawn to subjects that show pattern and texture.  Choosing a photo for July 11th was difficult.  I traveled north along US 127 to North Higgins Lake State Park for a late afternoon meeting.  Before my meeting I spent a little time exploring the park and came away with images of the lake, pine trees, lichens, etc.  Most of these images focused on pattern and texture.  In the end, I selected this image because of the suggested wavelike motion of the grasses.  I could have easily selected three or four other pictures from the day,

Day 22 (12 July 2018) - Blue Vervain

This photo of Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) was taken along the Chippewa River at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant.  The individual flowers are small, but each plant can have hundreds of blooms over the course of several weeks in mid- to late-summer.  The sheer abundance of blooms makes this an important nectar source for native bees.  Although none appear in this picture, there were dozens buzzing around this colony of plants.

Day 23 (13 July 2018) - White Water Lily with native bee

My final picture of the week shows a native bee collecting pollen from a White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata).  I took about two dozen of pictures of this exact flower at the beginning of a walk through Mill Pond Park this morning.  I came back near the end of my walk and there was a bee on the flower.  One picture and the bee was gone...