Vernal: A Spring Photo Project (Day 71 through Day 80)

Here come more photographs from my spring photography project.  To see the previous set of photos click this link.

Day 71 (29 May 2019) - Green Frog 

This image of a male green frog (Lithobates clamitans) was taken in Mt. Pleasant at Chipp-A-Waters Park.  Earlier in the spring I shared a photograph of an American toad taken in the same pond - both species breed in this pond, but at different times.  The fact that this is a male frog can be determined by the size of its tympanum (the circle behind its eye).  Female green frogs will have a tympanum the same size as their eye while the tympanum of a male frog is larger than the eye.  These frogs are often heard before they are seen as they announce their presence with a loud PLUNK! sounding like someone plucking a single out-of-tune guitar string.  This photograph has been cropped to a widescreen (16:9) format to eliminate some distracting elements at the top of the image.

Day 72 (30 May 2019) - Wild Geranium 

I selected this image of wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) because of color.  I like how the pink of the flowers contrasts with the varying shades of green from the geranium itself and surrounding plants.  This photograph was taken at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Sylvan Solace Preserve.  Wild Geranium has long been one of my favorite wildflowers to photograph.

Day 73 (31 May 2019) - Mayapple 

This photograph was taken at Mill Pond Park in Mt. Pleasant.  Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) produces a single large while flower beneath as pair of large umbrella-like leaves.  From above its almost impossible to see the flowers, but from below...  This image was taken by holding the camera at ground level and using the moveable digital viewer to compose the image.

Day 74 (01 June 2019) - White-tailed Fawn 

June 1st was National Trails Day.  I was scheduled to lead hikes at four CWC preserves, but the weather was horrible almost the entire day.  We dodged thunderstorms and rain all morning with even heavier rain due early afternoon.   Everyone bailed on the hike scheduled for 1:00 except me and Shara.  Despite the rain we went for a short hike at Hall's Lake Natural Area.  I kept my camera tucked inside my raincoat for most of the hike, but I did bring it out when we spotted this white-tailed deer fawn.  Despite the rain, the hike was worth it for this picture.

Day 75 (02 June 2019) - Portrait of an Iris

In the last set of photographs I shared an image of a Siberian iris photographed in our home flower garden.  This iris image comes from our gardens too, but this is a bearded iris.  I deliberately shot this image to focus on the iris' beard.

Day 76 (03 June 2019) - Monarch Egg 

On June 3rd I decided to stop at Forest Hill Nature Area on the way home.  Large parts of the property were mowed down last fall and then (apparently) sprayed with herbicide this spring.  I can only assume the intent is to replant these areas with native seed sometime this year.  Right now walking through these areas is rather depressing.

However, I did notice that the herbicide did not kill all of the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).  On a whim I decided to search the milkweed plants for a monarch butterfly egg.  I found this one on the second plant I searched.  This image has been cropped down to about 30% of the original size and has been the brightness of the image has been adjusted.


Day 77 (04 June 2019) - Impressions of grass @ icd office

The photograph for Day 77 was taken at the Isabella Conservation District Office.  The wind was constantly creating waves in the grassy field behind the office.  I decided to work with the wind and create an Impressionist photograph of the scene.  The image above was shot at 1/6 second at f/32 to capture the blur of the grass as the wind moved it around.  This image reminds me a bit of some of the landscapes in Frederick Remington's later paintings that were heavily influenced by Impressionism.  Of this set of ten photographs, this is my favorite image.

Day 78 (05 June 2019) - Dead Man's Fingers

A trip to Mission Creek Woodland Park yielded this photograph of the appropriately-named Dead Man's Fingers fungus poking out of the ground.  I like this image more for the subject than I do for the composition.

Day 79 (06 June 2019) - Common Whitetail

I love photographing dragonflies... when they will sit still for more than a few seconds. 

This female common whitetail (Plathemis lydia) perched on a blade of grass a few inches off the ground at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant.  She sat still as I approached to within about 4 feet and stayed there long enough for me to snap several dozen photos from more than one angle.  This picture has been cropped from a horizontal to a vertical image.

Day 80 (07 June 2019) - Raindrops on Spiderwort leaf @ Saginaw Chippewa academy 

The final image of this set was taken at 7:30 in the morning at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy's native pollinator garden.  The garden has reached its early summer glory with hordes of coreopsis, penstemon, Canada anemone, and spiderwort bursting into bloom.  On this morning the star of the show as not the flowers but rather the thousands of water droplets left by an overnight rain shower.  My favorite image of the day was of this single large droplet poised on the end of a spiderwort leaf.  A couple of smaller drops sit further back along the leaf and droplets in the background refract circular globes of light.  If you look closely at the central water drop you can see an inverted image of the background plants and sky.

The Days of Summer - Day Sixty-six through Day Seventy-two

This is part ten of my Days of Summer photography project.  It's hard to believe that August has passed and we are into September.  I started this project on the Summer Solstice (21 June 2018) and have just under three weeks remaining until the Fall Equinox (22 September 2018).  Photographing every day has been both incredibly rewarding and a grind.  I have taken some of the best photos of my life, but there have also been days when I did not want to pick up a camera at all. When I reach the end I plan to compile all the photographs into one long post, but if you can't wait here is the previous installment.


Day 66 (25 August 2018) - Sunset at Forest Hill Nature Area

On August 26th, we headed out to Forest Hill Nature Area to participate in a public bird-banding event.  While waiting for birds to be caught I made a quick circuit of the property to try to photograph several Sandhill Cranes that could be heard on one of the hills.  The cranes (as always) were wary and while I has able to get several photos from a distance, none of them were very high quality.  Instead my favorite image of the day was this one of the seed heads of Big Bluestem Grass silhouetted against the setting sun.


Day 67 (27 August 2018) - Spotted Touch-me-not

This picture of a raindrop on a Spotted Touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis) flower was taken during a hike at the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Hall's Lake Natural Area.  Spotted Touch-me-not is also known as Jewelweed for the way raindrops bead up on its leaves like so many miniature jewels.  This image has been cropped from a horizontal to a vertical format and the brightness of the image has been adjusted to tone down the highlights.


Day 68 (27 August 2018) - Yellow-collared Scape Moth on Blue Vervain

This image of a Yellow-collared Scape Moth (Cisseps fulvicollis) on a Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) flower was taken at Forest Hill Nature Area.  A wasp mimic, this day-flying moth is a common sight in late summer as it nectars enthusiastically in the restored grassland at Forest Hill.  Blue Vervain is one of my favorite wildflowers.  It's individual flowers are tiny, but each plant may have hundreds of individual blooms.  Large patches of this plant can paint fields, shorelines, and ditches purple.


Day 69 (28 August 2018) - Black Saddlebags in flight

Several days recently have been spent indoors, at my desk, preparing for the new school year.  On these days, my time sent outdoors has been short.  Outdoor time is not always measured in length, but in moments.  On this day, I walked into the field behind the office.  As I walked, a mixed swarm dragonflies flew overhead hawking at small flying insects.  I spent more than a few minutes trying to photograph them in flight.  This picture of a Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) was my best image of the bunch.

Day 70 (29 August 2018) - Turbines

On August 29th, I drove to St. Charles, MI for a meeting on a generally dreary day.  Driving back from the meeting, somewhere in eastern Gratiot County, I stopped to take a few photographs of wind turbines against a cloudy sky.  I took this image over a corn field by standing on the running boards of my truck and photographing over the cab.  I like this picture because of the brooding dark-banded clouds and the upright lines of the wind turbine.

Day 71 (30 August 2018) - Oleander Aphids

This image was another taken at the office.  Some days there is an obvious star photograph; on other days, all the photos feel like duds.  This was one of those days.  I do like the pop of color provided by these bright orange Oleander Aphids (Aphis nerii) feeding on a Common Milkweed stalk, but otherwise I am not enamored by this picture.  I was shooting images of aphids because I spend so much attention on Monarch butterflies and I wanted to get photos of some of the other species that depend on milkweeds.  This picture has been cropped from a horizontal to a vertical format.  I feel like I could have cropped it further, but I thought it would lose some context. 

Day 72 (31 August 2018) - Habitat

This final photograph for the week was photographed on private land near Winn, MI.  This property is owned by a member of the Board of Directors for the Isabella Conservation District and open to the the public for hunting through the MI DNR's Hunting Access Program (HAP). 

I visit this property a couple of times each summer for a very specific kind of hunting.  I am hunting for Monarch caterpillars.  The property is a perfect Monarch habitat with a mix of milkweed and nectar plants.  Right now the Common and Lance-leafed Goldenrod are both in bloom and the Sky Blue Aster is just beginning to flower.  Mix in several species from the mint family, Joe-pye Weed, Water Smartweed, and some hawkweeds and it's a pollinator paradise.

I have visited this place twice in the past three days and have come away with 21 caterpillars.  One of them is hiding in the picture above.  I would never have noticed this caterpillar if I had not knelt down to photograph a bee as it passed from one goldenrod bloom to another.

The Days of Summer - Day Thirty-eight through Day Forty-four

This is part six of my current photography project - The Days of Summer.

In the past, I have had times where I have gone days or even weeks without taking photographs.  This summer I set out to change that tendency.  I gave myself the task of recording images every single day between the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox.  Not only do I need to photograph something every day, but I am also sharing a single photo from each day on this blog.

To see the previous installment (part four) check out this link.

Day 38 (28 July 2018) - Lights! Camera! Moths...

The week of 21 - 29 July was National Moth Week.  In celebration, I hosted two mothing events on the nights of 27 July (for the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy) and 28 July (for the Chippewa Valley Audubon Club).  This image is from the latter event at Mission Creek Woodland Park in Mt. Pleasant.  This image was taken shortly after the sun went down as the moths had barely started to come in.  Lots of moths were drawn to the lights, but this image was my favorite of the night.

Day 39 (29 July 2018) - Woodpecker Feather

This picture of a woodpecker flight feather was taken during a hike to the top of Bundy Hill.  This feather belongs to either a Downy Woodpecker or a Hairy Woodpecker.  Although these two species look very much alike, they are not closely related.  The current theory is that the Downy evolved to look more like the Hairy so it wouldn't be harassed by the larger bird.

My general philosophy in regards to photo editing is that "Less is More."  This picture is probably the most heavily edited image I have ever posted on this blog.  It has been rotated 180 degrees from the original - I liked the quill better in the lower left of the image than in the upper right.  The image has also been cropped to better focus on the feather.  Even though I prefer to "crop with my feet" (move closer to the subject), I am usually okay with cropping an image down to better focus on the main subject.   I have also adjusted the brightness of this image.  The picture was taken in direct sunlight and the colors were rather washed out in the original.

Day 40 (30 July 2018) - Oh, Hello!

This picture of a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) on a Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) was photographed at Forest Hill Nature Area.  The beetle was feeding on pollen and nectar on the small individual flowers.  To highlight the beetle against the sky, I lay on my back in the middle of a trail, leaned against my camera bag for support and, and aimed the camera upward.  I probably shot two dozen images of this beetle as it crawled around the flower, but the pose in this picture made it my favorite.  This image has been cropped slightly to reduce the amount of open space at the top and left of the picture.

 Day 41 (31 July 2018) - Carolina Locust

Unlike the previous two pictures.  This image has not been edited at all.  I photographed this Carolina Locust (Dissosteira carolina) at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt. Pleasant.  To get this picture I lay on a slab of limestone along the edge of the Chippewa River and focused tightly on the grasshopper.  I was at the minimum focus distance for the lens on my camera.  By working so close, I lost a little bit of detail on the legs, but check out the veining on the wings and the pattern on the head, thorax, and abdomen!

Day 42 (01 August 2018) - Halloween Pennant

This image was also photographed at Chipp-A-Waters Park.  After photographing the Carolina Locust on the 31st, I noticed a Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) hunting in a grassy area along the riverbank.  Despite repeated attempts, I was never able to get a picture that I made me happy.  I went back the next morning to try again.  I actually arrived too early and had to wait for insects to begin flying.  Eventually this Pennant showed up and I was able to get several photos.  I cropped this from a horizontal to a vertical image.  I liked the original, but I liked the vertical crop just a little bit more.

Day 43 (02 August 2018)

This picture was taken at North Higgins Lake State Park.  I spent the day doing a pair of activities for a summer camp being held by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.  Due to stormy weather, we adjusted the schedule a little bit.  This left me with some time before my morning activity.  Although this is not the greatest image, I like the repetition of the spherical water droplets throughout the picture.

Day 44 (03 August 2018)

My final photo for the week was taken at Mission Creek Woodland Park.  Although sometimes I have a plan I go out to take photos (like with the Halloween Pennant pictured above), at other times it pays to just wander and see what happens.  I found these Crown Coral (Clavicorona pyxidata or Artomyces pyxidatus) growing on a rotten log in the middle of the woods.  If I hadn't wandered away from the trail I never would have discovered them.  Coral fungi are some of the coolest looking fungi that grow in Mid-Michigan, but I sometimes find them a challenge to photograph because they are such a start contrast to the dark wood.  I decided to crop this picture as a square eliminating another clump of fungus to the left of the picture.

The Days of Summer - Day Twenty-four through Day Thirty

This part four of my Days of Summer photography project.  Sometimes I get so busy with work and everything else in life that I forget to take time to get out in nature.  So I've given myself a photography project that requires me to get outdoors every single day.  Starting with the Summer Solstice (21 June 2018) and ending on the Fall Equinox (22 September 2018), I will get outdoors every single day to take photos.  One picture from each day will be shared here.  To see last week's installment click here.

I hope you enjoy looking at this photos as much as I enjoy taking them.


Day 24 (14 July 2018) - Queen Anne's Sunset

This image of the sun setting behind a Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) bloom was photographed at Forest Hill Nature Area.  This has become my go-to location for photography for this project.  Forest Hill is located less than fifteen minutes from home.  If I didn't get anywhere else during the day, I can always find time to run to Forest Hill for a short photo visit.

Day 25 (15 July 2018) - Square-stemmed Monkeyflower

On Sunday July 15th I spent the afternoon at Chipp-A-Waters Park in Mt Pleasant for the second annual Chippewa River Water Festival.  The Isabella Conservation District had a booth at the festival and I was helping pass out conservation swag and literature.  I was also scheduled to lead three nature hikes through the park during the afternoon.  During one of the scheduled times, I had no takers so I went by myself with just my camera as a companion.  This Square-stemmed Monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens) was growing on a point bar along the edge of the Chippewa River.  There were probably thirty of these plants total - I normally find less than ten a year.

Day 26 (16 July 2018) - Wheatfields and Stormclouds

This picture was taken near the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy's Sylvan Solace Preserve wet of Mt. Pleasant.  Clouds are always a good photo subject.  So are fields of ripening wheat.  This location had both.  This is my second photo of a wheat field, but I think this image is more about the clouds than the wheat.   I also liked that I could get a picture without trees on the horizon.  (There are a couple on the far left of the picture, but they don't detract from the open horizon feel.)  About ninety minutes after this picture rainstorms moved into the area.

Day 27 (17 July 2018) - Waxing Crescent Moon

This photo of a waxing crescent moon was taken from my backyard at 10:25PM.  This picture has been cropped from the original to a square image.  I like the sharp lies of the crater edges where the sunlit side of the moon meets the half in shadow. 

Day 28 (18 July 2018) - Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Some days it's hard to pick a favorite photo to share.  This was not one of those days.  This male Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) was taken at Forest Hill.  When I spied it perched on this grass, back-lit by the setting sun, I knew it was a "winner".  This image has been cropped from a horizontal to a vertical format.

Day 29 (19 July 2018) - Cedar Waxwing

I spent nearly thirty minutes at Mill Pond Park watching Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) flying over the Chippewa River to snag insects out of the air.  Occasionally one would land on a tree limb about twenty feet in front of me.  This is one of about seventy-five picture of fur different Waxwings.  This image has been cropped considerably with about 1/3 of the picture removed from the left and 1/3 removed from the bottom.

Day 30 (20 July 2018) - A Hole in the Clouds

The final image of the week was another one from Forest Hill Nature Area.  I spent an hour photographing the setting sun, the moon, clouds, and a sun dog.  As we were preparing to leave I spied this patch of light peeking through a dark cloud. 

A blast from the past

One of the local schools that I visit is Winn Elementary.  Way back in 1984 - 85, I was a student in the fourth grade at Winn Elementary.  While looking through a file cabinet yesterday, I came across an artwork that I did when I was a student at Winn.  This drawing was entered into a stamp design contest through the US Postal Service.  I was a big stamp collector at that age - I was also into nature as the coral reef theme shows.  Obviously I didn't win the contest... but I like to think that my drawing skills have improved.

Sometimes Nature Come to You...

Tuesday evening, Shara and I were sitting on our porch swing when she noticed this dragonfly hanging out on the porch ceiling.

Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa) - dorsal view

Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa) - lateral view

After much consulting of field guides and the internet,  I decided that this was probably a Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa) - this was later confirmed by a local expert (Thanks, Stan!)  This species is common across much of North America.  This is the first darner that I have found at our house.  We commonly have meadowhawk dragonflies and several species of damselflies, but no large odonates.

Our neighbors probably already think that we are a bit odd, a viewpoint that we confirmed by bringing a stepstool out onto the porch to take photographs of this dragonfly perched on the ceiling.  Personally, I prefer to think of myself not as odd, but rather as "eccentric". 

Insect Photos

Yesterday I posted a worksheet that I use during a presentation on Michigan's Insects.  Today I am going to share the Powerpoint slides that I use during the same presentation.  I use these photos to show Third Grade students the diversity of insect species that can be found in the local habitats and to illustrate the various adaptations that insects have developed including warning coloration, mimicry, false eyespots, etc.. 

As before, if you can use these images for an academic purpose please feel free to borrow them.  Many of these photos appear elsewhere on this blog.

 There are 57 more slides below the break...

A Dragon in the Garden

My wife noticed this female Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) in the Native Pollinator  Garden at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy this morning.  After helping her carry some things in to her 2nd grade classroom, I spent a few minutes photographing it before I headed to work.  This was my favorite photo of the bunch.

It looks like she has had a hard life, but even missing a portion of a forewing, she should still be able to fly and capture prey.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) on Rough Blazing Star (Liatris aspera)